Cinders in the Water
by Winged'Pollution
Summary: Things always change. For the Girl of a Thousand Names, things have changed quite a lot in just two years, and after living in hell under the sea, things are going to change even more with the arrival of one man in a knit jumper. Rated for strong language, graphic violence, nudity, drug use, abuse, and sexual themes.
1. Prologue

_A little prologue, a bit short. Seeing as I'm starting at Arcadia, this will probably be a short(er) story. There's no telling, really. Anyway, tell me what you think, good, bad, or whatever. _

_W'P_

In the gardens of Rapture, a woman lay in a tree. She was relaxed for the time being, as it was before the next wave of Splicers came around and she had a bit before she needed to be worried. Usually she was safe in her tree anyway, but there was no such thing as real sanctuary in Rapture. All good things flow into the city. That's what Andrew Ryan always said. And how right he was.

A pink petal drifted from the branches above her and landed on her pale cheek. She idly brushed it away. She had once been very lovely, with soft hair and clean skin. But years of living in hell itself had changed that. Now drawn out and tired, she was a shell of what she used to be. But anything was better than being a Splicer.

The roars of pained drug addicts echoed down the halls behind her. She twisted around on her bough to lie on her stomach, arms hanging below and eyes fixed on the hall ahead. Her hands were wrapped around her shotgun, which she decided to pull up next to her so her entire body was parallel to the branch. More guns were strapped across her back. Bloodied kitchen knives dangled at her hip next to a silver pistol.

Her reddish hair, once long and lush, was hacked away to her chin. Her skin was a gray from being without real sun for so long. The freckles on her cheeks had faded to barely-noticeable dots, and her features were generally sharp. She had sharp cheeks and sharp lips, and most of all sharp eyes, like emerald daggers.

The first of the wave came, in a fisherman trench coat and hat, waving a machine gun around carelessly. "I hear you!" He roared to nothing, walking around in disjointed circles.

The next one came in, in her ripped, filthy, bloody dress, brandishing a pistol. "I was beautiful!" She whimpered, stumbling around. "I want to be beautiful again! Where is the Adam . . .?"

The fisherman Splicer sent a spray of bullets around the garden, and the female fell with a scream of agony, writhing in the soft grass like a worm, her body contorting horribly. "Get it off!" She roared, and got her wish as she was shot to meat.

By this time, more Splicers had joined them in the gently rolling garden, and this small exchange was just an everyday event. Kiki watched them wander around, muttering, crying or screaming to themselves and others for the next few minutes. They didn't usually look up, so she was good until she wanted to pick a fight.

She looked to the side, ready to defend herself need be, and saw something that she hadn't seen for a long time. Tip-toeing down the hill from the fishery was a lean man in an off-white jumper. A radio was slung over his shoulder, a red wrench in one hand and a controlled Incinerate on his other. Kiki reached up, scrabbling a little at seeing someone new and unaffected, and threw a handful of red petals and green leaves down on him. He looked up and stepped back at the sight of her, but relaxed when she put a finger to her lips and carefully stood up on her branch.

With precision only gained by practicing over several years of basically living in the same place, she hopped through the pink branches of the tree, pausing when Splicers looked her way, and gesturing for the guy to get back around the corner where the Splicers didn't go. He stepped back as she landed neatly in front of him.

"Are you an idiot?" She hissed, grabbing his wrist and towing him around the corner to the grassy, dark hill where it was at least somewhat safe. "Who are you, and why are you just waltzing around Arcadia like it's a Sunday afternoon? You'll get your arse killed faster than you can think."

The man gave her a look. "Nice to meet you, too. Jack." He held out his hand, switching the wrench to his left.

Kiki shook his hand, sighed, and impatiently flicked an unevenly cut piece of hair from her eyes. "Katherine, Kate, Kiki, Katie, Kay, Kate, whichever you prefer. I like Kiki, parents like Katie, friends like Kate. Doesn't matter to me. Everyone has their own."

"I think Katherine should be fine." Jack said, looking a bit bemused.

"Whatever. Now, about you being here." Kiki leaned back to peer around the corner. "Shit. One second." She ripped a knife from her belt, pushing Jack away and flipping back to dodge the shower of gunfire across the back wall. She dropped down and threw the blade at the fisherman Splicer from earlier, who yelled briefly in pain; briefly, because his scream was cut off with a strangled gurgle as Kiki dashed forward and snapped his neck. It was too late, though. The half dozen others in the area were suddenly perfectly alert and focused on her.

"Great." She muttered over her shoulder at Jack. "You know, things were just bloody peaceful before you came on down here."

He changed the magazine in his gun and wordlessly loaded it.

"Okay, man of few words. I can deal." Kiki caught the gaze of one of the Splicers, dressed in old cabaret stockings, and licked the flat of her knife tauntingly, making a beckoning gesture. "I hope you know how to use that Incinerate."

Jack waggled his hand in response, sparks jumping from his fingertips and a couple orange flames dancing up his wrist.

"Good." Kiki rolled her neck, the joints snapping. "Oh, it's good to have someone new!" With a ferocious growl, she crouched down as the cabaret Splicer shot at her with a beaten up pistol. She leapt forward and up, knife-first to stab into her unprotected belly.

She straightened up in time to see Jack snapping a Splicer into flames, and the addict going down to roll around on the floor. Kiki swung a leg up to kick the gun from a suited Splicer's hands and pull her pistol out. She put it at his head and pulled the trigger without blinking, blood and brain matter splattering across the grass behind him.

Something cracked her in the back of the head, sending her stumbling away seeing spots. Kiki looked up, holding her head, to see a final Houdini behind her. Crazed eyes stared at her from behind his carved deer mask. She slashed forward with a butcher's knife, but he was gone.

"What are those?" Jack asked her as they joined up, staring around the garden, both spattered in fresh blood and in his case, cinders.

"Houdini Splicers." Kiki spat, flipping the knife around so the blade was facing down and out, and holding it defensively before her face. "With these fuckers you're either fast or dead. And, luckily for both of us, I'm very fast."

The Houdini appeared within her arm's reach in a puff of red smoke and burning rose petals. Kiki darted forward, feeling the knife sink into flesh. The Houdini's laughter was loud and angry in her face as he crumpled over, very dead.

They relaxed somewhat, facing each other. "Thanks for the help." Kiki sighed.

"Hm. So you live here?" Jack snapped his fingers, found he was low an Eve, and casually injected another hypo of glowing purple-blue into his bloodstream.

"Yeah. I loved Arcadia before everything went under. Figured I might as well learn to live with it. Plus Julie is a decent enough woman, knows I'm here and doesn't bother me if I don't bother her."

"Julie?"

"Julie Langford. 'Eve'. She runs the garden."

"What happened here?"

"They're keeping secrets, aren't they?" Kiki asked. Jack nodded. "Listen, I don't know what you're doing here, or why you're wearing a jumper, but when the world goes to hell you learn how to survive or you get eaten alive by the wolves. I was around when the wolves were born, and they don't get any cuddlier. Fontaine's an arse, Ryan's an arse, Atlas' an arse, they're all arseholes now. Things were good, but now they're not. That's how the world works, Jack. I get by believing that things will get good again."

"Who's that?" An Irish, male voice came from the radio at Jack's side. "Who've you met now?"

"Ah." Kiki rolled her eyes at Jack and folded her arms. "Hello, Atlas."

"Oh, okay, it's you." Atlas directed his speech to Jack. "Be careful with this one. "Girl of a Thousand Names", we call her, now. 'Course, I just call her mad."

"One of the more popular ones." Kiki muttered. "'Bitch' and 'Whore' are also used pretty often."

"Lives with the Splicers in Arcadia, she does." Atlas went on, ignoring her. "That would make anyone mad. Right piece of work, but good enough and not addled by the Adam yet."

"I don't live with them." Kiki snapped. "At least I'm actually doing something, you bloody taig. Thinning the ranks."

"Whatever you say, Mad Kat. But we have a job to do, boy-o, so would you kindly continue on with getting to Ryan?"

Jack nodded and started walking through the garden. Kiki threw out her hands, looking after him, and ran after. "Uh, hello? Jumper Jack? Are you mad?" She grabbed the radio and flicked it off for the time being. "Atlas is trouble."

"He's been helping me so far." Jack argued. "And his wife and kid were just murdered in the fishery."

"Tragic if true." Kiki said. "But he's trouble, really. Nothing good will come from chasing after him."

"What about all that 'learn to survive' stuff?"

"Exactly my point." Kiki said lowly. "Atlas is a wolf, and he's circling in on you. I was here when he came into power with all his bloody bandits and rebels. A year ago I watched Rapture fall because of him. I'm warning you because you seem like a good bloke. Do what's smart." She flicked the radio back on, nodded to him, and walked back to her tree. "Nice meeting you, Jumper Jack."


	2. Official Introductions

"_Oh, Katy!" A wind chime-like voice sang out in the hall, turning a couple heads but other than that not attracting much attention. A woman with burning red hair draped around her shoulder turned to look. A floor-length, deep green dress was draped over her, with a long slit up the thigh. A mask like a white bird covered the top half of her face. She grinned widely at her friend, exposing teeth only slightly out of place, and held out her arms to embrace her._

"_Susanne, good to see you. How have you been lately?"_

"_Oh, you know." The blonde waved a gloved hand, the blue earrings hanging nearly to her shoulders glinting. Her outfit matched the colour of the jewelry, short and exposing a white garter belt. There were red lipstick marks on her champagne flute, matching where she sipped. "Living the dream."_

"_You can say that again." Katherine looked around the room, admiring the hanging red velvet and beautiful people. More party-goers milled about, drinking and laughing, wearing masks like theirs. A man was on the piano, playing an upbeat tune._

"_Beautiful, isn't it all?" Susanne mused, following her friend's gaze. Her own mask was that of a white bunny, covering most of her face but her mouth. Her light, fair hair hung in lovely waves down her back. _

"_We're so fortunate to be here." Katherine said. "I think we take Rapture for granted sometimes." _

"_Yes, I should think so." Susanne replied. "Aren't you supposed to be up there, doing what you do best?" She nodded at the man at the piano._

"_Not my set. I have to sing, Fitz up there doesn't. I'll be up in about half an hour."_

"_Well, I'll make sure to stick around. Heard that cutie has a thing for little ol' you. Ooh, did you hear the news?"_

"_Wait, what…What news?"_

"_Jasmine Jolene just had Ryan's little brat! They're keeping it all very hush-hush but I have a friend who knows a guy who used to be friends with Ryan, and apparently they discussed it over a drink. Unlucky bastard."_

"_Susy!" Katherine chastised. "Language."_

"_Oh, right, sorry. A-a-anyway, it's a little boy. Haven't got a name yet, my contact didn't get that part. We probably know more about this than most of the city! Oh, I feel so sneaky. Like a secret agent!"_

"_I'm sure you do, love." Katherine smiled and finished off her champagne. "I'm sure you do. I hope Jasmine is okay with all of it. I've met her a few times backstage, she's really rather nice. A bit…shallow, but nice all the same. I suppose we all have purposes here in Rapture."_

"_So her purpose was to have Ryan's kid?" Susanne asked, her foggy blue eyes skeptical under the mask. "Never thought you for that type of thinking, dear."_

"_Maybe. Maybe not. I was raised in a Christian family, but…I don't know. Fate is an odd thing, if it exists. Is there a God? If so, did he make it Jasmine's sole purpose to have Ryan's child? If so, why would he care? I could ask these sorts of "if so" things all day."_

"_Oh, you have." Susanne laughed. She looked across the room and gasped, hurrying to stand behind Katherine. "Oh, my gosh, Katy! Look!"_

_The other party guests saw the same thing. There were murmurs of surprise, the crowd parting around the subjects of interest: a lumbering, gigantic figure in a shiny diving suit, and running happily ahead of him with a long syringe in her hand was a Little Sister, eyes glowing yellow. Her skin was pallid and sickly, her hair in greasy pigtails. The Big Daddy followed her closely, picking up the pace a little when she ran too far ahead. His left hand was a massive, threatening drill. They passed right by Katherine and Susanne, through the hall they were standing at the entrance to. The Little Sister even smiled amicably at the women as she skipped past. Once gone, the party resumed its previous tone._

"_Wow." Susanne murmured, looking after the odd pair. "So that's them, huh?"_

"_Looks like it." Katherine muttered, doing the same. The Big Daddy turned a corner, and was gone but for lumbering footsteps and some unintelligible grumbling. "Strange seeing them at a party..."_

"_Well, monsters want to have fun, too, right?" Susanne joked. She seemed to notice something and downed the rest of her drink. "Love to stay, but I'm going to go put the moves on that absolutely _delicious _specimen over there." She purred, staring down a suited man standing off to the side with a couple friends. _

"_Calm down, kitty." Katherine chuckled, patting her shoulder as her friend fluffed up her hair, refreshing her lipstick in her hand mirror. _

"_Okay." Susanne snapped the mirror closed with a decisive _click, _tugging her dress around a little to expose more cleavage and adjusted her mask. "Wish me luck."_

"_Good luck." Katherine said sarcastically, watching her friend saunter off, blue heels clacking confidently on the tile floor. "You're gonna need it."_

-o-

Kiki coughed, waking herself mid-dream/memory. She flinched in her tree, grasping a branch instinctively tight, putting her other hand over her mouth, and instantly regretting not making the short trip to her safe bed. Something was trickling down her skin in heavy droplets, making her eyes water, her nose burn, her skin slimy and her lungs strain. A faint hissing was humming through the garden. Green mist was spraying down from the ceiling. Leaves on the trees dried, crinkled up and fell off. Flowers withered and died in record time right before her eyes.

"No…the trees!" Kiki jumped from the tree, stumbling on the landing and coughing again. "Ryan, you great fuck!" She roared. "Stop this! Stop!"

Holding a sleeve to her mouth and nose, she ran from her Rolling Hills sanctuary into the Tea Garden, which she found was less affected by the toxin than the Rolling Hills. She suspected the Tree Farm would be worse, as Ryan was likely trying to get rid of the oxygen in Rapture.

Falling to her knees at the little stream, she snatched up greedy handfuls of water and rubbed it on any exposed skin: her arms, face, neck. She hacked up a glob of phlegm from inhaling the toxic gasses, gasping a few times and calming down, now only breathing heavily.

Standing, she turned around and saw Jack at the entrance to the Tea Garden, closing the sliding paper door behind him. She clenched her fists and marched up to him, pointing viciously as soon as he saw her. "If this is you, Jumper Jack, I swear to everything I know I will kill you here and now."

"No, it's Ryan." He explained, hands out to show he meant no harm. His plasmid had changed, and now he held an oozing blue ball, which she recognised as a targeting plasmid that you could throw at people, and watch as the security bots shot them to meat.

Kiki stepped up to him in a flash, glaring directly into his eyes, which she noted were a very dark brown. They watched each other, judging. "Fine." Kiki finally decided, stepping back. She took his chin her hand and turned his head around a little. "But just because you're some brand-new, good-looking bloke from up above doesn't mean I trust you. In fact, it's pretty much the opposite. So watch it, mister." She patted his cheek and smiled. "Now let's go fix the trees before I kill everything here."

She whirled around, plucking her shotgun from her belt. Footsteps behind her told her Jack was following. "You don't seem to like talking so much. Not a problem, I can talk for both of us. So, how'd you get down to this hell hole?"

"My plane crashed en route to England."

"Really? Your plane crashed…in the middle of the Atlantic. Conveniently, so it happens, right at the gates of Rapture?"

"…Yeah. Why are you here?"

"I was selected to be a first-class citizen of Rapture because of my…_contributions to the culture of the arts_. Basically, because I can sing a couple songs. Doesn't matter now, does it? Miss the posh life. Anyway, I'm from Wales. God save the Queen and so forth. Miss it, especially now. Hm, let's think…okay, why were you going to England?"

"Seeing cousins."

"Neat. So, plan is this: we're going to go up to see Julie, because once she finds out about all this, she'll be frothing at the mouth." They walked through a couple glass halls and found themselves in a little entrance area with a sliding door at one end. Kiki banged on the door, hard, with the flat of her hand. "Julie! Julie, it's me, Ryan's trying to kill—"

"My trees!" Julie cried, her distressed face appearing on the monitor. "It wasn't you, was it? No…_Ryan. _I think I've got a way to save the trees, it's a genetic factor. Oh, who's that with you…? Never mind. Kathy, darling, could you find a sample of Rosa Galica for me? Do you know where it is?"

"Yes, I'll go get it now. This is Jack, topsider who stumbled in here earlier. Doesn't talk much." Kiki explained, shrugging to him.

"Oh, well, just go and get that rose sample for me and I can cook up that factor. Make it quick!"

Kiki saluted to the monitor and marched away with Jack in tow. "Come on, Jumper Jack. We're off to the Grotto for some of that rose."

She led him back through the Rolling Hills, winding through the trees and turning up a staircase. At the top, a Big Daddy was thundering into the garden beyond, his Little Sister hopping happily along behind him. In the corner of her eye, Kiki watched Jack load his shotgun with what looked like explosive shells.

"I wouldn't, if I were you." She warned seriously. "Those bad boys will knock you 'cross the room without a thought for just looking at the Sister funny." Jack simply walked up the stairway, disregarding her caution and loading the gun. "Seriously, _really _don't—"

_BANG!_ The shells stuck to the Daddy and exploded on him, causing the massive creature to reel in pain, roaring loudly enough to make the ground shake. The Sister screamed, a terrified shriek. Jack simply reloaded the shotgun, the empty shell jumping aside, leaving a trail of smoke behind. The Big Daddy was on him in a moment, picked him up and threw him into the nearest wall.

Kiki rolled her eyes. "Dammit, man!" She grumbled, taking out her machine gun and putting in a magazine of armour-piercing rounds, aiming, and accurately pelting the Daddy with them. He waved his arms around, noticed her, and charged. Kiki ducked out of the way just in time, aimed and emptied the gun on the Daddy. Recovering from his charge, the bullets finally got through the thick armour, and he keeled over, unmoving.

Kiki sighed and walked up the stairs. She only got halfway when the Little Sister came stumbling down, crying loudly. "Mr B! Please get up, Mr Bubbles! Why won't you get up?" She sobbed. Kiki easily bent over and scooped the girl up, holding her firmly and continuing up the stairs. "No! No, no!" The Little Sister tried fighting away from her.

"Get up, Jack." She snapped, poking his leg with her toe. "We've got a little girl to kill because of you, now."

Jack groaned and stood, holding a hand to his side. His jumper was stained red on that side. He looked at Kiki, holding the struggling Little Sister. He held out his hands in a clear "give her over" motion.

"Fine. I hope you're ready to live with the consequences." She handed the girl over, who was still crying out in panic.

Jack's veins ran white under his skin as he set a hand on her forehead like he was checking her temperature. The Little Sister went limp in his arms, sighing. After a moment and a flash of light, Jack set her down on her feet and sat back against the wall.

"Thank you. Thank you, mister." The girl thanked. Her eyes had returned to normal, her skin less pale. She ran off, scampering up to the nearest tunnel and crawling inside.

"So…you going to tell me what that was all about?" Kiki asked, turning to him.

"Tenenbaum." Jack answered simply, grabbing the wall too drag himself to a nearby park bench. There was a smear of blood against an outcropped stone in the wall where the Big Daddy had thrown him.

Kiki sighed, taking a first aid kit from the back of her belt, kneeling next to him. "This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't made that Daddy angry. I swear…okay, jumper off." Jack raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you going to make me undress you?"

He sighed and struggled with the knit thing, getting the arm of his good side out, as well as his head, but freezing with a twitch of pain when it got to his injured side. Kiki sighed again and pulled it away, setting it aside. She focused on the first aid, picking up the little syringe and tapping the anesthesia inside. He was only wearing a white wife-beater, and Kiki refused to look at a half-naked man she just met.

She took his arm and injected the numbing agent into his blood, noticing a tattoo of three interlinked chains on his wrist. Jack relaxed, his head falling back against the wall and fists unclenching.

"Okay, shirt off, too." Kiki instructed, taking out the alcohol and bandaging. Jack gave her that look again, eyebrow raised. "I've patched up enough friends in the past year, male and female, to know what I'm doing. I _will _take your clothes off." Jack smirked, a cheeky little quirk of the mouth, and awkwardly tugged the tank away.

Kiki cleaned the wound up, rubbing the dirt and excessive blood away with cotton and alcohol. It might have burned, but the anesthesia probably helped a lot. After the wound, a large gash between his ribs, was cleaned up, she wrapped the bandages around his lean torso. Leaning over him, she noted that the same chain tattoo was both wrists. The final step was the small amount of ADAM, in a very little syringe of its own. She administrated it somewhat reluctantly; the chem was hard to come by, but he was no use to her with broken bones. The ADAM would have him healed up quick as a whip—or, at least, a lot faster than the body could do without it.

"Well, that should do it." Kiki sat back on her heels and inspected her handiwork. "Not bad, in my opinion."

"Thanks." Jack said, holding the injury.

"Everybody gets one." Kiki smirked. "So now that you aren't in immediate danger of bleeding out, care to elaborate on that Little Sister trick you pulled?"

"Tenenbaum," He groaned, sitting up straighter. "Gave me a serum. Takes the slug from their bodies, and gives me ADAM besides."

"That's really remarkable! This could fix all those poor creatures." Kiki thought about it for a moment. With even one person with that power, the Little Sisters could become normal again. "Hm, more on that later. For now, let's get you dressed."

With a bit of struggling, wincing and awkward closeness, they got his shirt and bloodstained jumper back on. Kiki folded the remains of the first aid kit up into its box and hooked it on the back of her belt again. "Mind if I borrow an EVE hypo?"

Jack handed it over. She injected into her wrist with a grimace, watching the blue sprint through her blood, and waited. Soon, the flesh of her arm folded and morphed into little hexagons of sticky honeycomb. Large, fat wasps crawled across her hand and up her arm. Kiki wiggled her fingers, smiling as the wasps buzzed not unhappily at her.

"Now that's done, let's get on. Have to find that rose." She helped Jack to his feet and, making sure he was all right, started off again toward the Grotto.

The halls of Arcadia had, in the past year, become overgrown with a particularly aggressive strain of vine that bloomed with large leaves and flowers both, the flowers being an obnoxious shade of magenta. There was so much of it, the walls were almost cushioned. It, along with the grass everywhere, gave Arcadia an almost claustrophobic sense; dark, humid, and more often than not now, stinking of blood and rot.

Even so, it remained one of the loveliest places in Rapture. That was probably the only reason Kiki stayed anymore. It felt more like home than her flat on the other side of the city ever had.

The Grotto was, in a sense, a hole in the ground. A wooden scaffolding-esque staircase wound around the turning gear in the middle of the room. Water had since flooded the Grotto, but only about ankle- to shin-deep. Splicers liked hiding out there, as it was dark, and the Rosa Galica made it extremely aromatic, which probably soothed the side effects of the ADAM overdose. Kiki didn't often come to the Grotto for just that reason, but every now and then picked a little rose to keep her peninsula of a hideout smell good.

On the same note, the rose itself was incredible. The Grotto had been part of the water distributing mechanics of Arcadia, to keep the plants fresh. A massive gear was in the centre of the room, and the rose had grown wild and untamed up the side of the machinery. The reaching arms of the plant stretched around the entire room and beyond, while the blossoms were, at minimum, the diametre of Kiki's hand, and at maximum, larger than her head.

"Wow." She said as they stepped inside, and took out her camera. "That rose is out of control. I guess that's why it's called…" She snapped a picture of the glowing pink rose. "_Photo-synthesis._"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"That was actually a pretty good one, you have to admit that much." Kiki grinned, waving the photo out to see how it looked.

"…"

"Oh, then bugger off. That was clever."

Jack laughed, a noise that made Kiki look back at him in mild surprise. However, it seemed to shock Jack even more. He blinked, perplexed, and looked like he was about to say something, when an ear-shattering rattle of gunfire went out instead.

"Bloody turrets!" Kiki swore, ducking behind a short wall of stone on the staircase one down. "I hate turrets…" She peeked over the edge, taking a grenade from her belt. Dust showered into her eyes as the turret shot at her again.

"Gotta be _real _careful…" She muttered, pulled the pin and tossed the grenade as accurate as she could over her shoulder. "Fire in the hole!" A great _boom _echoed in the room, but the gunfire stopped. "If that didn't get any Splicers over here, fuck me." Kiki grumbled, loading her pistol and tipping it back with a _clack_. "I'll get the Rosa Galica sample, you try and keep the Splicers off me without dying. So, on your marks, get set…"

A female Splicer screamed right on cue. "You call that a roast?!"

"Go!"

They leapt into action. Kiki sent out a preliminary swarm of wasps, which she could hear swarming angrily above her, and jumped over the edge of the wood fence. The distance to the ground was a little further than she anticipated, but she rolled to avoid any serious shin-smashing damage and hopped up, eyes fixed on the rose.

A Splicer with a pair of goggles ironically welded to his face pounced on her from the left, where he had been veritably hiding. Splicers were odd, they couldn't really hide or sneak, but they could be clever once in a blue moon if they were really, really intelligent before the ADAM. Kiki turned and promptly shot him once through the front of the head, not sparing him a second glance as she waded quickly to the Rosa. She grabbed a tin lunch box from her belt, where she kept nearly everything, ever, and carefully snipped one of the large roses from the stem. A thorn pricked her finger, but she hardly noticed, despite the thing being as large as the syringe to an EVE hypo.

Gently tucking al the petals into the box, she closed it with a clank and hooked it back on her belt. As she turned to walk back up the stairs, she grabbed a first aid kit from the top of a storage crate and hightailed it out.

"Come on, Jumper Jack!" She yelped, dodging a Splicer's attacks and shooting him, missing and getting his knee instead. "Let's get the hell out of Dodge!"

"Busy!" Jack snapped, swinging his wrench brutally at some random Splicer's skull. She screamed each time the heavy metal hit her head, getting tossed back and forth. Blood spattered on the wall to the right and the wood rail on the left.

"Too bad, let's go! She's done, anyway!" Kiki grabbed his wrist and tugged him out the door.

"Ah!" Jack hissed, putting his hand to his side.

"Oop, sorry. Woah now, not so fast!" Kiki switched her plasmid and froze a jumping Splicer in midair, about to crack Jack's head open with a piece of pipe. Jack looked back at him but kept running without saying anything.

"'Thanks for saving my life, Katherine!' 'Oh, no problem, Jumper Jack, just doing my job.' 'But how can I repay you?' 'Silly Jack, slaughter is it's _own _reward!'" Kiki imitated Jack's voice with heavy sarcasm as they crashed and slipped down the slick, vine-covered halls to the Rolling Hills.

She looked back to see his reaction and almost had to stop running at the expression on his face. The only way to describe it was a combination of amused, exasperated, and a sort of "are-you-kidding-me-this-is-not-the-time-for-joking" deal.

"Right, now, back to the watering hole. No, the Glens. Wait, no, Julie!" Kiki stopped in the Rolling Hills, making a couple turns on the spot to get her bearings straight before starting off again through the smoky, toxin-filled forest.

"Julie, Julie, we've got it!" Kiki slammed face-first into the door, getting a roll of the eyes from Jack, which she didn't see. "Here it is!" She opened the lunch box to show the lush specimen as the monitor flicked on.

"Lovely catch, Kathy." Langford complimented. "Just put it through the tube and I'll start on the genetic factor immediately. Come in if you want, the security is always down for you."

"Thanks, Jules, but I think I'm going to quick jump back to the Hills to patch myself up. Be back in two ticks."

"Don't take too long. I may need your help again. Knock if you want in, I'll be locking down again."

"Sure thing. Come along, Jumper Jack."


	3. The Calm Before The Storm

_I suppose at the beginning of each chapter I'll have a little flashback. They'll be going in general chronological order, but it would be smart to check my ANs for clarification if something doesn't make sense, because I'll probably skip around. I am. The queen. Of plot holes. So if the one person reading this (ahem SepiaDreams is awesome ahem) finds anything, just PM me and I'll elaborate. _

_W'P_

_-o-_

_13 October, 1958. _

"_A-a-a-at la-a-a-st…" Katherine sang into the microphone, looking around the room. She was really just background music, but a couple people with nothing better to do watched her perform. It was the last song of her set, and her favorite to sing. Not because of the lyrics, but because it was easy and smooth. "My lo-o-ove has come alo-o-ong…My lonely days, are over-r-r..."_

_The appearance of the Big Daddy and Little Sister a couple weeks ago, however brief, had given everyone something to talk about. Seeing the odd pair in public was somewhat unusual, especially since they had made a shortcut through a party. _

"_And life is li-i-ike a so-ong!"_

_Susanne was flirting with a couple blokes in a corner. She had always been very good at that. It was something Katherine couldn't even really fathom. Susanne had probably discovered some obscure aphrodisiac that she kept hidden in her brassiere or something like that. She was a magnet, and could pull off every trick in the book. Innocent, flirty, naughty, hard to get, intelligent. You name it, Susy could get a guy with it. One look at a man and she knew exactly how to seduce him. She was like…like the Sherlock Holmes of sex. It was actually somewhat remarkable. _

"_The ski-i-ies above are blu-ue…My heart, was wrapped up, in clover-r-r-rs…The night I-I-I looked at you-u-u…" Katherine took a breath as the band played for a moment. "I found a dream that I can speak to…A dream that I-I-I-I can call my own. I found a thri-i-i-il to press my cheek to…A thrill that I-I-I have never known…"_

_Katherine glanced up at the clock on the wall as, after another chorus, her song ended. Her set was, thankfully, now over, as well as the pianist's. Their sets overlapped but ended at the same time. She smiled at the polite applause and accepted a flower one of the men who had actually been listening gave her. _

_Backstage, there were costumes, mirrors, make-up and props galore. There wasn't as much stuff here as in, say, Fleet Hall, but it was still substantial. Katherine sidled through the people there, edging away to her dressing room._

_It was just a tiny little room, and since she wasn't a performing girl, there was little in there. Hanging on a rack were her few nice dresses, all but one of them some shade of green. Sander Cohen, the man with the final say on everything arts, had insisted because of her hair that 99% of her wardrobe be green, including make-up, and that was that. The man had so much on his plate; he couldn't spare her a second glance. _

_But she did manage to get an autograph, which she had added to her collection. Being in Rapture had given her a unique opportunity to get a few celebrity autographs, all of which she was very proud of, and had tucked into the frame of her mirror. So far, she had Jasmine Jolene, Sander Cohen, a difficultly obtained Brigit Tenenbaum, and finally one from Andrew Ryan himself. Next to them were pictures of her family—a muscly man, a woman with a grin too large for her face with a babe in her arms, two girls and one boy standing at the bottom—Susanne, a few friends from secondary school, and more recently, of the city from any of the glass halls that connected buildings. One was of a giant squid that had swum past her flat, which had made her yell in shock. She had thought it was a sea monster._

_Katherine put the flower on top of a pile of drying ones on her dresser, picked up a wet cloth and began wiping away her make-up, leaving dark green smears on the white fabric. If she wanted to go out and socialise some more, she would leave it on, but all she really wanted to do was go back to her flat, have a quick cuppa and go to bed. _

_There was a knock on the door. "Come in." Katherine said, a little tiredly. _

_In the mirror, the pianist entered. "Good job out there today." He said._

"_Thanks, um…"_

"_Kyle Fitzpatrick."_

"_Right, right. Thanks, Kyle. Was there something you needed? Afraid I'm about to head home rather soon."_

"_Yeah, um…would you want to get a drink some time? Or, dancing, maybe?"_

_Katherine's eyebrows rose. "I…sure, why not. Meet me in the atrium outside Fleet Hall tomorrow at eight."_

"_Really?" He looked even more surprised than her. "I mean, great. See you there." He stepped out, closing the door behind him. Outside could be heard a quiet, "Yes!" And then retreating footsteps. _

_Katherine continued rubbing away her make-up. "Well," She said to herself. "That was unusual."_

_-o-_

"Here it is, Jumper Jack." Kiki gestured grandly at the entrance to her "house", a curtain of water. "Home, sweet home."

They stopped at the entrance to a little grotto, about a dozen metres long and half that wide. It was filled with water but for some stepping stones that Kiki had placed to get across. At the other end was a little bed, a locked safe and a couple crates on rocks to stay above the water. Little, trickling streams dribbled into the main pool on either end. The stone walls emitted a sort of bluish glow, and in the prime of Arcadia it was one of the most romantic settings next to the Tea Garden. Kiki hopped over the stones, bare feet slipping. In other parts of Rapture, shoes were needed, but not in Arcadia. Easier that way, anyway.

"It's really very cosy once you get used to it. So," She pointed to the crates in order. "First aid, EVE, food, clothes, and ADAM. Keep in mind if you try to use any of this stuff without my permission and you aren't dying, starving or otherwise, I'll suffocate you in your own jumper. This is two years of work."

"Impressive." Jack complimented, carefully maneuvering from stone to stone. Kiki jumped up into her hammock, taking a key from her shirt and swinging back to unlock the first aid crate. She tossed aside the empty one she'd used on Jack and grabbed a fresh one.

"It is, isn't it?" She said, observing her swollen finger. Damn Rosa Galica had pricked her. Genetically enhanced plants had some odd side effects. Her finger had grown bright red, her veins blue, and her entire hand bruised yellow and purple. "Gross…" She uncapped the ADAM needle with her teeth and poked it into her wrist. "That should help."

"So!" Now feeling better, Kiki rocked back and forth like the hammock was a swing. "Anything you need? Hungry?"

"Yeah, actually." Jack said, jumping to the piece of land next to her. "What is this place?"

"Adopted home." Kiki unlocked the food crate with a different key, putting the first aid one back in her bra. "Had a problem with Houdinis popping in here while I slept, but they've mostly cleared out by now."

"Eat these." Kiki threw a bag of crisps to Jack and leaned back to grab some more food. "Around here, you don't know when your next meal will be." She looked up, and saw him finishing off the bag. She blinked. He blinked back.

"…"

"…" Jack lifted the bag up to tip the crumbs back into his mouth.

Kiki laughed and threw a couple more bags over, along with a crème cake. "Well, someone's hungry. That's fine, I'm kinda hungry too. But after this, it's right back to Julie."

She changed her plasmid to Incinerate and held the fire up to the bottom of a thermos of cold coffee to warm it a little. She opened it and drank half in one breath before passing it over to Jack, who was already done with all his food. He finished it off and handed it back to Kiki, who washed it out with water and filled it with the same before putting it back in the crate.

"So, how long have you been here?" Kiki asked, eating a crème cake in two bites.

Jack shrugged. "Two weeks?"

"I know how that is. You lose track of time in here. Well, at least you'll be around for the second anniversary. Pity you didn't get to see Rapture in its prime. Quite the sight to see." Her eyes glazed over a moment, thinking of different times. She quite quickly snapped back into it with a shrug and a noise of apathy. "Things change, I suppose. Best be moving on now, see how Julie is doing."

They finished eating in silence and left the hidden cave. Kiki swept a curtain of that irritatingly contagious vine over the small entrance, making sure it was concealed before they started walking back to the laboratory. Many of the Splicers had cleared out, now. That had been partially luck, partially some timing on Kiki's part. She'd gotten used to the Splicers' "shifts" and knew when there would be a higher concentration than other times.

She knocked on the sealed door to the lab once they were back, and after a pause, Julie popped up on the screen. "Oh, Kathy. It's good you're back, I'm almost done with the factor. Here, I'll let you in."

The door clanked as it was unlocked, and slid up to let the two in. Weapons still bared, they walked inside to find the turrets, security cameras, and security bots all allies and not caring about their presence. It wouldn't last long, though, so they hurried through the destroyed offices, Kiki leading, to Langford's office.

The botanist had more or less sealed herself away. Only Kiki had seen her in person in the last two years, and even then it was only once every few months. They could both entertain or otherwise keep themselves busy in the gardens without disturbing each other. However, it was mostly Kiki who couldn't bother Langford, the latter being of a higher position of power before the fall of the city, and those boundaries still being respected. To a degree.

They entered a small hall, where a window with green words inscribed read "Dr Julie Langford, Botanist" looked in on a dark-haired woman at a lab table. Beakers and graduated cylinders of different-coloured chemicals released little bits of smoke into the room, as Julie seemed to be measuring something out in a vial.

Kiki knocked on the glass. Julie saw, waved, and held up a finger. "One minute." She said to them.

"Julie…" Andrew Ryan's voice sang over the intercom, for all three to hear. Julie flinched and looked around. "We made a business deal, did we not? Money changed hands—let me read to you from the agreement. Section three, sub-section four…"

"Mr Ryan!" Julie tried to protest.

"'Ryan Industries maintains exclusive rights to the creation, use, and exploitation of the Lazarus Vector.'" As he spoke, clouds of green gas burst into the lab, swirling around a trapped Julie.

"No—wait—please!" She cried, clutching at her throat.

Kiki dashed to the door, trying the knob and pulling, pushing and otherwise shoving in vain. It was locked tight, probably by Ryan. Jack started cracking the end of his gun against the glass, which was too strong to break. The window fogged over with thick slime from the fumes. All the while, they listened to Julie's pleading screams of pain as she suffocated and coughed, her footsteps as she stumbled around in her office, and a heavy thump as she apparently hit the ground.

Then, just when it seemed over, there was a weak cough and a squeaking as Julie began to write in the window slime. Her finger carved a fast, desperate message into the goo, her coughing and death rattles still audible. A hand print appeared, and as she wrote the last figure, two thick bands of the window were wiped clean by her hands as she collapsed. At last, the message read, backwards: 9457.

Kiki collapsed into the toxic room as Ryan, the sick fuck he was, opened the door.

She immediately stumbled back out, waving away the green poisons as they dissipated into the fresh air outside. Once the lab was more or less cleared out, she and Jack stormed inside. Julie was sprawled in a corner, her eyes and mouth open in terror, face a sickly colour. Kiki kneeled beside her and closed her eyes, taking a moment of silence for a good acquaintance.

She looked up at the numbers scrawled on the window. 9457. Probably the combination or password to something, but what…

"Hey." Jack speaking caught her attention, and Kiki turned to see him jerk a thumb at a safe near the back of the room, in a wall.

"Good catch." Kiki sighed, walking over to the safe and entering the number. The safe popped open, revealing the contents: a good stack of cash, a couple boxes of ammo for a pistol, and an audio recording on a tape.

Kiki took out all of it, tucking the money into her pocket, putting the pistol ammunition at her belt, and pressing play on the tape.

"What's the point of being a damn genius if the only ones around to appreciate it are a bunch of spliced-up morons?" Langford snarled from the tape. "I've cracked the Lazarus Vector. Or at least, I'm 99% certain I have. I just need a bud of Rosa Galica to confirm my analysis. Distilled water, a bit of chlorophyll, and enzymes extracted from Apis Mallifera. That's right, sweethearts—honeybee spit."

The tape spluttered to an end. Kiki smirked and set it on the desk. "Well, that's easy."

"Hm?"

"I have everything but the enzymes back at the hideout. And, I know exactly where to find that honeybee spit."

-o-

"Just pull that lever."

"Sure?"

"Yes of course I'm sure, now pull that little lever right there. Right now. Go on."

"…"

"Don't give me that look, I'm perfectly confident in this. Charging into a giant room of bees completely unprotected, that's just a walk 'round the block here. Not even that! It's, it's…it's eating a nice breakfast on a patio while you watch the sun come up, that's what it is. Your _entire job_, Jumper Jack, is to kill the Splicers coming through that there door. I have about sixty seconds or less, so just please keep them off so I don't get stung _too _much. Got it?"

"…You're sure about this?"

"For god's sake, man!"

"I could do it."

"_Pull the bloody lever!"_

"Fine, fine!" Jack yanked the lever down, releasing the smoke from the ceiling. The swarms of buzzing bees in the room quieted as the insects fell from the air. Kiki ran in, swatting some stragglers away. She ran up to the nearest stack of bee houses and searched through, scraping a test tube around to gather up some of the spit solution.

She did this for the next few seconds, running and throwing open drawers as fast as possible. She got stung a couple times, but it wasn't life-threatening. After a few moments, she heard a few gunshots, and looked up to see Jack casually shooting a few curious Splicers. Catching her eye, he tapped his wrist and made a "get back here" motion.

Nodding, Kiki booked it back to safety just as the bees stirred around and woke back up. Soon, the room was buzzing again.

"That was…less fun than I had hoped." Kiki decided, observing her small half-tube of enzymes, and plucking a few remaining stingers from her skin. "And yes," She added, seeing Jack's roll of the eyes. "I expected it to be fun." She tapped the glass tube with her nail. "I need a bit more, I should think. Once more into the fray."

"The lever, if you would, Jumper." Kiki bounced on her heels, now knowing she should run faster and get stung less.

"I have a name."

"Yes, I use it often. Now, the lever."

Jack gave her a look and pulled the switch. Kiki ran in again, once more disregarding the bees pricking her skin as she collected the enzymes. The gunfire came sooner this time, and there was more. Glancing up, she saw Jack dual-wielding Incinerate and a machine gun, actually doing pretty well about it. Kiki hurriedly filled up the test tube and ran back to the control area as the bees woke.

There was one Splicer doing better than the others at dodging the majority of Jack's attacks, laughing stupidly and jumping around unpredictably. Bullets rattled around the small room and pieces of brick lit on fire. Unfortunately, he jumped around right in front of Kiki, who, without missing a beat, grabbed the back of his shirt, shoved him into the room of bees and blew him a sarcastic kiss. The genetically enhanced insects went at the Splicer instantly, stinging him mercilessly until he was quite obviously dead.

"All done." Kiki put a stopper in the tube. "That's a lot of spit. Better to have more than less, I suppose. Not anxious to go back in there any time soon." She started walking, not seeing that Jack looked like he wanted to say something. "Back to the lab, cook up this Lizard Factor or whatever it is, fix the trees and Bob's your uncle."

"Ow!" Kiki touched her middle and blinked in surprise when her hand came back bloody. "What the…"

"My fault." Jack said apologetically. In the fray with that dodging Splicer who'd jumped in front of Kiki, he accidentally shot her.

"At this rate, I'll be one of them in no time." Kiki grumbled, trying to slowly sit down but just kind of flopping onto her bum. She took the first aid from her belt and did the ADAM first, injecting it and tossing the empty hypo away. She took out the alcohol, bandages, and cotton.

"Do you mind?" She gritted out to Jack, who started, flushed a little and turned around. Kiki lifted her shirt up and cleaned and bound the wound. "Okay, you're fine." She grimaced, standing. Her hand was still tightly grasping the tube of enzymes, her other pressing her gunshot wound.

"Sorry."

"Don't be. Shit happens. Now, let's go repair the trees before we _all _die of oxygen withdrawal."

The beekeeping room was in the Farmer's Market, in a different district than Arcadia, so the walk back was a bit longer. "Never cared so much for the Market." Kiki talked to fill the silence. "So many people, buying and carrying food around. Pain in the ass, but fun every now and then on a Sunday afternoon."

Back in Arcadia, the ground was now littered with dead leaves and flower petals, ripped pieces of bark like dead skin in the autumn. There weren't many Splicers, but they could be heard a few rooms away, screaming nonsense to themselves. Getting through Julie's labs was more of a chore, as the security had all perked right back up again and there was now more sneaking around involved.

Eventually they got back to Julie's office. Her body was still slumped over in the same place, and the room still reeked of the toxins that had killed her. Kiki walked to the lab table and, using what little knowledge she had garnered from Julie, patched together a Lazarus Vector that would have to do.

"Good enough." Kiki sighed, looking at the solution slosh around. "I'm no botanical genius, though. It could kill us all."

She put it into the distribution chamber and waited, hoping that she hadn't completely fucked up. Atlas chose the time to chime in. "Ha! Listen to the damn thing gurgle and crack. How long's it gonna take?"

"It seems Julie's death didn't provide a clear enough lesson for you." Andrew Ryan spoke coolly form the radio. "Perhaps this will suffice." He went out with a buzzing of static.

"Ryan's got your number. No doubt he'll be sending company." Atlas came back, tone serious. "Best head back to the lab entrance and seal 'er off. Might be the only way to keep the Splicers out."

"Okay, time to book it." Kiki jerked a thumb and just like that they were running again, back to the reception area to seal down the labs. The lever for the lockdown was right there next to the desk.

"Did you get that door sealed?" Atlas asked.

"Yes, Atlas, we aren't idiots, thank you very much. Unlike some I could name…" Kiki snapped, taking the chance to inject herself with EVE and load her pistol.

"Hey! Watch it. But that's good, it'll buy you pair some time."

"Not long, by the looks." Kiki said warily. A bright circle of light appeared at the base of the door at the corner and began moving up, burning an orange line into the thick metal. "On your marks…" She rubbed her fingers together to get a nice strong shock of Electro Bolt ready for the first of the charge. Jack loaded his machine gun with a fresh magazine. "Get set…"


	4. Enter the Madman With a Rabbit Mask

_Quote__: "Friends can be said to "fall in like" with as profound a thud as romantic partners fall in love." -Letty Cottin Pogrebin_

_Listen to__: "Welcome to the Show", Britt Nicole_

_-o-_

_25 December, 1958_

_A Christmas carol tinkled on the piano courtesy of Kyle, who had a cigarette in his mouth and was smiling at Katherine. The latter was hanging little silver bulbs on the tree, reaching up on her tiptoes. The flat was practically infused with the smell of cranberries and cinnamon, due to the miscellaneous dessert dish she had prepared on the fly. _

"_Oh, Katy!" Susanne sang, poking her head around the corner. A little red candy cane pinned back her hair, matching her short dress and her signature white garter belt. A cigarette was stuck in the end of a long, black stem. It seemed everyone was smoking nowadays._

"_Er, yes? Yes, what?" Katherine stopped trying to stick the star on top of the tree and looked to her friend. "Oh, Susy, please don't smoke in the kitchen."_

"_I think dinner is done, darling. Or, rather, I do _think _it is." The blonde looked back in the kitchen, where her newest beau was probably already sitting at the table. _

"_Right, be there in two ticks. Kyle, a hand please?" Katherine handed the star over to him and hurried into the kitchen. "Oh, you took the food out? Thank you much, love." _

"_Oh, stop it, I can't take the flattery, darling." Susanne waved a hand, mouth of red lipstick curving up in a bright smile. _

_Once the food had been served and everyone sat down, the eggnog and wine began around the table at a quick pace. Susanne's most recent quarry was a man who Katherine had no real liking for, as he seemed to be using Susanne for resources, as he was not very well to do. But of course, the girl always liked to keep things interesting, and Katherine wasn't going to judge. _

"_Happy Christmas, everyone." The four clinked glasses in a toast. "Cheers."_

"_So, Katy, Kyle," Susy leaned forward, a bite of mash on her fork. "When are you two going to move in already?"_

"_Oh, I don't think..."_

"_I don't think we want to. Yet." Kyle added. Katherine glanced at him, but said nothing. There had been some tension in their relationship the past week or so, and he wasn't going to act out with guests, but he'd been raising his voice at her more often lately. _

"_Ah, so, Susanne." Katherine changed the subject after draining half her nog. "Heard anything more from your friend on the kid of Ryan's?"_

"_No! Not at all! Oh, what an infuriating mess, darling!" Susy had gotten started, and it was good to get her talking if there was an awkward pause. "That wretched fellow hasn't been talking for simply ages, I swear Ryan's making him keep quiet now you know, but he's been terribly concerned with that Beatrice slut and I do think that he's not been very focused, of course I never talk to him myself, it's always through my friend. Speaking of whom, darling, I believe he's been a tad distracted as well, quite a bit concerned with politics, that one, but I've never cared so very much, especially now. I mean, with all that's happening I daren't say anything about the government! Don't you agree, darling?"_

_It took Katherine a moment to realise she'd been asked a question. "Oh, yes, terribly dangerous these days."_

"_Do you support Ryan or Atlas? All the old bags here are in favour of Ryan, but John and I simply adore Atlas. So young and fresh! All those bright ideas about Rapture in the future, how exciting!"_

"_Yes, Atlas seems to be more in support of the working class." Katherine mused. "Though I do wonder about him sometimes…"_

_-o-_

"Go!"

The heavy metal door fell flat down with an earth-shaking _thud_, shaking the old floorboards and stirring dust into a billowing beige cloud. That was when things, for Kiki, went from white-knuckled anticipation to irritating yet somewhat frightening chaos. The furious screams of Splicers felt like they were right next to her ear, though she didn't want to shoot needlessly and risk hitting Jack.

Frustrated and with watering eyes, she stumbled backwards out of the dust cloud. Bullets from both sides flew at lightning speed over her head and around in random patterns, clanging deafeningly against the walls.

"Ah!" Kiki yelled out in surprise as something several times her size went barreling past her. Someone in there had gotten a Big Daddy angry, and she only hoped it was going to kick some Splicer arse.

"You better run!" Someone shouted behind her, and Kiki moved just in time for the Splicer, dressed in a surgical gown and mask, to hit the floor next to her. She shot him, but hit his hip instead of something more vital.

He lunged for her, brandishing a blade caked with dried and not-so-dried blood. White pain sliced her shoulder, but it gave her the opportunity to shoot him in the head that time. His body hit the ground hard behind her, but a female Splicer like a housewife was already on her in that time.

Kiki finally got her bearings, the laboratory focusing into something sensible. She calmly shot the Splicer, sidestepping the flying body. The Big Daddy roared in either anger or pain—or both—back in the dust cloud. Blood ran down Kiki's arm from her shoulder as she charged back into the fray.

She instantly sprinted face-first into something soft, yellowish and knit, which she realised was Jack's jumper. They both flinched in surprise, squinting through the dust and aiming their guns.

"Oh, it's you!" Kiki said, turning her pistol away, speaking loudly over the roaring of the Daddy and cacophony of bullets and screaming. "Is the Daddy ours?"

"Yes!" Jack called back, snapping a Splicer in roaring orange flames.

"That's more than I could have hoped for!" Kiki laughed, sliding forward like a baseball player and flipping back to kick a Splicer in the back of the head. Kicking hurt like a bitch without shoes, but it was damn fun.

"You know something, Jack?" She called as she pounced loaded-gun-first at a Splicer.

"Down!" Jack snapped in response. She ducked and a shotgun blast boomed over her head. "What?"

"I think we're going to get along just fine." Kiki clambered up onto the Big Daddy, riding piggy-back on the huge diver. "Forward, ho, big man! More Splicers be afoot!"

"Mrghgrhghh." The Daddy grumbled back, but didn't really try to smack her off, and instead went running off with huge footsteps that made the floor rattle. Kiki laughed hysterically, surprised that it actually worked. She stood up on his shoulders, shooting Splicers below with relative ease.

"Ha, ha!" Kiki laughed, slightly nervously, shocking a Splicer with Electro Bolt and watching her convulse. "Er, I don't know if this is actually that safe…" She laughed again, sitting on the Daddy's shoulder with her feet behind, grinning back at Jack, who rolled his eyes but smirked all the same.

"How long's that bloody thing gonna take to cook?" Atlas snapped up from Jack's radio, referring to the Lazarus Vector.

"Don't be a prick, Atlas. We've got it under control!" Kiki waved a hand like he could see.

Not a few seconds after she'd said that, a particularly agile Splicer soared up and tackled her off the Daddy before she could even blink. She managed to get her pistol up and shoot him, showering herself in blood and even tiny flecks of bone. "Ugh!"

That was the beginning of the second wave of the bastards. Maybe even more chaotic than the dust cloud was the fact that someone had turned on a turret, and being in the wrong place could mean becoming Swiss cheese. To add to all this fuckery, Houdinis had joined the party, so the air wavering like water and red smoke was puffing up all over the place.

"I don't have any more knives!" Kiki yelled at Jack, who shrugged in a sort of "I can't help you there" kind of way as he blasted a Splicer half apart with his shotgun.

"Damn it, will you just die?" A Houdini popped up right in front of her and screamed in her face. Kiki reached for her belt, again remembered that she was out of knives, fumbled her gun and ended up just blatantly pistol-whipping the Houdini. His wooden mask clattered away with a trickle of blood.

For a split second they glared at each other, and Kiki ended the staring contest a bit prematurely by promptly shooting him between the eyes, execution style with the barrel actually touching his head. She kneeled to search his body and missed a shower of machine gun rounds going over her head, courtesy a female Splicer.

Things only got worse. Pieces of office materials like pens and clipboards were literally soaring around in the confusion, and were just as hazardous as the guns. Kiki lost track of Jack at some point in the battle, as neither stayed in the same place and had to constantly be either killing something or dodging clumsy, rage-filled Splicers. At one point Kiki found herself standing on a desk, shooting and kicking Splicers simultaneously, and had a bit of an existential discussion with herself about what the fuck she was doing, and it went something like this:

"Kiki, this is Kiki reporting in, over."

"Roger Kiki, this is Kiki, reading you loud and clear, over."

"Kiki, what are we doing? Over."

"We're fending for our lives, over."

"But why? Wouldn't it be easier to die, over?"

"No. I mean, humans aren't programmed that way, Kiki. We have to fight because it's an evolutionary response developed over millions of years. If we don't fight, we die, and dying is counter-productive to the continuation of the human race. In this case, the underwater race, which you could repopulate with the help of handsome Jack there. Over."

"Shut up, Kiki, I'm trying to kick arse, over."

"Whatever you say, Kiki. Over and out."

At this time, she was jogging down the hall in search of the Big Daddy, which she felt would be a strategic move to stay close to. To her disappointment, she found the Daddy dead and surrounded by a veritable crowd of Splicers, who all looked up at her arrival.

"Oh, fuck me." Kiki's shoulders slumped, but she hopped back as a Splicer leapt forward.

"Who would ever want to?" Atlas snarked unkindly from the radio as Jack found her there with a half-dozen Splicers.

"Shove it up your potato hole, taig." Kiki snarled back, flipping her pistol around to crack the butt into a Splicer's temple and stepping away as Jack he pelted the gathered addicts with bullets.

"Be nice now, lass." Atlas replied condescendingly, ignoring the very offending insult. "Remember who's being a team player and helping you lot out."

"_You _remember who's actually doing something on the front lines, Atlas!"

Something rather far off, sounding like it was from Julie's office, dinged loudly down the hall just as Kiki and Jack finished off the Splicers. Atlas took the chance to steer the subject away from bickering. "What was that? Is the Vector ready? What are you waiting for? Hit the damn switch!"

Kiki made a rude gesture with two fingers at the radio, sticking her tongue out. "We better go make the trees good again, though." She said to Jack, and after making sure no more Splicers were behind them, they jogged of to the lab.

The distribution machine seemed to be all good, and at the same time with a nod, they pulled the lever down. Outside, through the window overlooking the Rolling Hills, the trees blossomed into fresh, lime green leaves and pink flowers as quickly as they had died. The grass sprung up lush and long, and with the Vector still working, vines crawled along the window they were looking out. The oxygen, the gardens—they were back.

"Well done, lad." Atlas congratulated, pointedly leaving Kiki out. "Take a deep breath and enjoy it. Then head on over to Rollin' Hills and get the bathysphere. Next stop is Ryan's house…vying for blood."

"You going off to kill Mr Great-And-Powerful?" Kiki asked as they relaxed and started back out to the gardens. Jack nodded in response, wincing and rolling his neck. "Hmm…mind if I tag along?" He looked at her in surprise, eyebrows raised. "Trust me. You need more than just Atlas to help you through this hell of a city, and, to be honest, I've got a bone to pick with the man himself."

Jack thought a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah, okay."

"Brilliant." Kiki stopped and held out her hand. "Proper introductions are in order if we're gonna be partners. "Katherine Kiley. Professional stage singer. Good to meet you…?"

Jack smirked a little. "Jack Wynand. Professional…sweater-wearer."

Kiki threw back her head and laughed, smacking his shoulder as they continued walking. "It's been a long time since I've laughed. Feels good. Never caught you much as the joking type, more the…not joking type. Anyway, we may as well gather up some materials if we're going off to Ryan's place."

They walked back to her grotto home in good spirits. Kiki had a bag prepared just in case she'd ever need to leave, and she stuffed it as full as she could with first aid, food, ADAM and EVE. Along with that she packed an extra set of clothes for herself; she offered some to Jack but he refused them, seeming to enjoy his familiar jumper. The last thing she did was probably the hardest for her: she took a pair of shoes.

"Ah, I'll miss Arcadia." Kiki sighed wistfully, hopping back to the entrance. "I'll be back, though. Every time I go, I come back. Just like that." She wiggled her toes in the last of the grass as they walked out of the Rolling Hills and into the Metro.

"Why are you so resistant to the traditional methods of separating a man from his soul?" The radio at Jack's side spluttered on with Andrew Ryan on the other end. "You're not CIA, are you? You belong to _Atlas_." He spat the word like it was a bug he'd found in his soup. "The one roach I can't seem to exterminate. Don't worry. I just need time to find the proper poison."

"Fort Frolic it is." Kiki ignored Ryan's grim foreboding and sat down inside the bathysphere as Jack pulled the lever and sat across from her.

"Right piece of work, Ryan is." She went on, tightening the laces of her shoes. "Suppose he was good enough before, but now I'm getting the sense he's gone right off the deep end. Ouch." She pulled back her sleeve to reveal a long cut. "Well, damn. More ADAM for me, I suppose. Hooray."

As she injected the red fluid into her arm, she decided to play another game of How Long A Sentence Can You Make Jack Say. "So, how're you liking Rapture so far? Enough attempts on your life for your tastes?"

Jack shook his head. "Didn't even know this existed before."

"Yeah, most people don't." Kiki sighed. "I didn't. I was a concert singer before I got down here, you know. Did a few decent shows, got so-so in terms of popularity. Then I got the invitation to Rapture. Hey, it's an exclusive city at the bottom of the bleeding Atlantic, right?" As she spoke, she looked out the window of the bathysphere and watched the city glide past.

"Well, things were pretty great down here in the beginning. Had a nice flat, really nice. Got some popularity, requested for a few parties and once at Christmas. Then, of course, the Civil War broke out. Atlas and Ryan went at it and when the smoke cleared none of it mattered anymore. Ryan thinks he can rebuild everything. But you know something? It's been almost two full years of this shit, and I think he's just saying that to make himself feel better about this failed experiment of his."

Her tone had gotten bitter near the end of her little speech. Trying to lessen the somber mood, she clapped her hands together and brushed off her trousers. "Well, no use reminiscing, back to business and killing Splicers and such."

On that cue, the bathysphere grumbled to a halt, and the door slid open. She and Jack walked out, wary of Splicers but walking briskly. "The sphere up ahead should get us to Ryan the fastest." Kiki pointed.

They made their way through the abandoned rooms of smashed martini glasses and dusty slot machines, tipped over tables and chipped dice. A Circus of Values cackled away to their right.

"Ryan's handed the keys of Fort Frolic over to a guy named Sander Cohen." Atlas crackled from the radio. "Cohen's an _artist _says some. He's a Section 8, says I. I've seen all kinds of cutthroats, freaks, and head cases in my time…music…real psychopath…" His voice started to get drowned out by "Rise, Rapture, Rise", the city's anthem. Jack twisted a knob and gave the radio a little smack, to no avail.

Kiki shrugged and they moved on, cautiously making their way through Fort Frolic. The Metro was relatively nearby, and no Splicers tried to jump them in the short walk over there. Once inside the docking station, the bathysphere was visible with the door open and waiting to take them to see Ryan.

But, as they started forward, the door slammed shut with a hope-shattering boom, and the sphere descended into the gurgling water. Even as the last of the bubbles disappeared, an enormous bunny mask lowered down behind it, pink spotlights shining up to cast disturbing shadows. Women in dancing poses, frozen in something like ice or cement, lowered down on either side of the large hall. Gold and pink sparkles dripped from them like floating lights. Massive red curtains slid toward them to cover the dirty, wet walls. A piano tune began playing over the intercom, something slow and sad, like a morose lullaby.

"Oh, no." Kiki muttered.

"Ah, that's better." A musical voice sighed over the radio. "Atlas, Ryan, Atlas, Ryan. Da, da da, da, da da. Time was, you could get something decent on the radio. The artist has a duty, to seduce the ear and delight the spirit. So say goodbye to those two blowhards, and hello! To an evening with _Sander Cohen._"

"Oh, _no._" Kiki grabbed Jack's arm, for once looking absolutely, dead serious. "Listen, Jack. We're in big trouble here. Big trouble. Don't question this guy, just do everything he says and we might get out alive." She pulled him once and let go, walking quickly back into the Fort.

"Now, I haven't seen a sign of real life down here in months." Cohen went on. "But one of you looks familiar, somehow. Hello?"

Kiki coughed in surprise at being mentioned, but composed herself. "Hello, Mr Cohen." She spoke up.

"Ah, yes! The redheaded singing girl. I thought you were in Arcadia?"

"Um, change of plans, Mr Cohen."

"Ah, I see. The restless soul of an artist. Well, let's see if you and your friend aren't just another couple of Johnny-come-lately's."

A piece of something hit Jack's head, making him flinch a little and stepping back to aim his gun at the ceiling. At first, it seemed like there was nothing there. Then, upon closer inspection, there was a woman stuck there, camouflaged in her tattered dress. The only thing that gave her away were the two curved, bright, orange-hot hooks she held in her hands to crawled along the ceiling.

"Move it, Jumper!" Kiki lunged to yank Jack away, but something struck her, hard, in the back of the head. Stars of red and blue, circles of white burst behind her eyes as she fell away, at the same time the woman dropped from the ceiling with a scream.

"Spiders, I hate Spiders." Kiki held her head and blinked a few times to get her bearings. In the corner of her eye, she saw the same Spider Splicer coming at her, very fast. She threw up a hand to foolishly deflect him and got a palm of burning metal. "Ahh! Fucker!" She pulled her shotgun from her back and blasted him point-blank, the gunshot making her ears ring.

"Jack, Jack!" She yelled, having a hard time hearing herself over the tinnitus. He looked over at her, at the same time trying to fend off the two Spiders on him, who were doing cartwheels away. Kiki made a snapping motion with her free hand. "Incinerate!"

He nodded and quickly cracked both of them into flames. The woman from before died on the spot, and the newer male dropped from the wall with a crunch, writhing around and twisting into horrendous positions, screaming with high-pitched agony.

"Oh, goodness." Kiki slapped her palm against her ear, waggling her head back and forth. "Tinnitus is terribly annoying. Is that all of them?" She and Jack moved in a second-nature sort of way so they were back to back. She felt him shrug.

"Oh, you can smell the malt vinegar on you pair." Cohen purred from the radio. "I've waited so long for something tasty to come to this little burg, but all that pass are yokels and rubes. Where are my manners? Come in! Come in! Sander Cohen awaits you…at the Fleet Hall!"


	5. An Outstanding Display

_-Don't judge me. I'm loving this song. I only have like three Britney Spears songs because they're like cocaine. I hate it but I love it._

_-Susanne's final line in the flashback is taken from the movie "Christopher and His Kind", an absolutely brilliant film. I based her character partly off of one in that movie as well, so I suggest watching it if you haven't. _

_-Also, Cohen __actually says that__ if you go and get Alarm Expert from that ledge. Made me laugh. "Cohen, you great bloody creep, stop spying on me."_

_W'P_

_Quote:_ _"__What you need to know about the past is that no matter what has happened, it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment. And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new. Right now." -Author Unknown_

_Listen to__: "Circus", Britney Spears _

_-o-_

_30 December, 1958._

_The bar was smoky and dim, filled with the sound of clinking glasses and heavy cigarette fumes. A woman was laughing loudly and drunkenly somewhere. The bartender was chatting with some bloke at the far end of the bar, wiping down a glass with a dirty towel. Decorations from Christmas still hung around the place, wilting after being smoked out. _

_Katherine stared at the wine in her glass, dully observing the tiny bubbles that swelled at the sides and broke away to pop at the surface. Susanne came trotting over, looking somewhat put out. "Oh, darling, there are no good catches hanging around this dreary place, let's go before I simply wither away from boredom."_

_Katherine nodded, drained her glass and paid for her drink. The women walked out into the transparent, glass corridor that gave a full view of the city above. Here, there was more light than the bar. _

"_I've got this new Plasmid, you know, very sexy, I think. Electric Something Or Other, I can't remember. It's very tickly and rather fun in the bedroom, if they're into that sort of thing. Expensive but so worth it. I'm thinking of getting that flame one? You know, to light up easier…" Susanne suddenly gasped. "Oh, darling!"_

_The blonde, using her glove, wiped away at Katherine's cheek. There on her skin was a blotchy yellowish bruise, reaching its morbid arms down her neck. Taking a moment to look, there were similar make-up covered spots on the tiny bits of exposed skin Katherine now risked showing. _

"_Oh, Katy! Is this him?" Susanne fussed, pulling her friend to the side and out of the corridor where someone could see them. _

"_Yeah. He…got a lot worse after Christmas." Katherine muttered, putting a hand over the mark. _

"_Katy, you simply have to tell someone!"_

"_Who?" Katherine snapped, suddenly annoyed. "No laws in Rapture. No laws, no god. Only man. I'm on my own."_

"_Katy…" Susanne suddenly looked very sad and thoughtful, letting slip her mask of bubbly, flirting cheerfulness to expose a woman who was very much aware of the horrible things in the world. Who had experienced them firsthand. Her eyes brimmed with tears, smearing her heavy make-up. She embraced Katherine tightly, letting the long-stemmed cigarette fall to the floor as they both wept for the world. _

_Katherine pulled away first, wiping her face off. Something in her stare had changed. She was no longer gazing listlessly; there was a glint there. "I'm going to confront him." She decided. "And he'll be gone from my life forever."_

"_Good." Susanne said simply, nodding. "Yes, good, Katy. Oh, I hate to ask, but might I borrow a tiny bit of ADAM from you? John took my last bit and I need a recharge." Her expression became that sad one. "Why are men always such beasts, darling?" She asked quietly. _

_Katherine frowned, and for a moment considered the possibility that her friend was actually worse off than herself. She handed over a little, wax-sealed vial of red fluid. The woman nodded at each other and Katherine stalked off, head held high, to Kyle's flat._

_It felt like the longest walk of her life. As she reached the door to his flat, she suddenly got a sense of horrible, morbid fear, and almost turned away. But, taking a few deep breaths, she got a hold of herself. And with cold fingers and a hammering heart, she opened the door to Kyle's abode. The idiot didn't even lock his door. She looked around the actually fairly neat room, at the piano in the corner, at the meager shelf of books._

_He suddenly stormed around the corner, staring at her at first in surprise, then anger. "I thought I said to never come here."_

_Shut up, Katherine thought to herself. She had meant to speak it, but opened her mouth too late. White shapes burst behind her lids as he struck her, her head consequently striking the door frame. _

_The confidence, the unbridled fury, surged up inside of her like a fountain. Such anger as she'd never felt before, about anything. Like a fiery, heavy stone sitting in her gut._

_Katherine stood up, eyes burning. She had one of her high-heeled slippers in one hand and, without thinking too hard about it, swung the shoe as hard as she could, heel first. It hit flesh, and Kyle yelled out in pain. _

_The consequences of what had just happened tumbled down on Katherine like a rockslide, but she couldn't stop. She fell onto Kyle, striking him with the slipper over and over until a little blood made her hand slip. He was still moving and alive but clearly alive. Katherine stumbled away, panting, horrified but oddly, grittily happy, and ran away to get a paramedic._

_-o-_

"This…" Kiki was having trouble finding words for what she was seeing.

The atrium lay out before them. A large staircase soared up to the second floor, long and stopping just before a small stage on the ground floor. Posters for various acts, like Jasmine Jolene, were plastered around the walls, long worn away by the ravage of time. The blinking, flickering, multicoloured lights for the different sections of the Fort. Spotlights clanked on the shine blindingly down at her and Jack. They put their hands up, squinting up at the light.

"Welcome…to Fort Frolic!" Cohen introduced grandly over the intercom, but switched to Jack's static-y radio. "No need to thank me for jamming the transmissions of those boors, Atlas and Ryan. The artist, yes, the artist knows there is richer earth to till. For example, I test you, little moth and butterfly. I test all my disciples. Some _shine _like _galaxies _and some…some _burn _like a moth at the flame. Come now…into my home."

Kiki pointed at different sections of the Fort as she and Jack walked up the stairs to Fleet Hall. "That's the main theatre, the Hall. Over there is Poseidon's Plaza, and there's a whole lot more past that." She lowered her voice. "So, Cohen's cracked a bit more than I expected. This could get bad."

They arrived in the Fleet Hall lobby, the bar long abandoned. The taps were still there, however, and Kiki idly wondered if they were still working; probably not. A square glass door with a large, cursive 'R' engraved into it stood ahead, but didn't open when they approached. A set of stairs were off to the right, illuminated with purple light, and Kiki knew exactly where they led.

"That's going up to Ryan." She explained to Jack. "Best not try to confront him." After looking around a moment, she pointed at a circular lift. "Here, this should still work."

She hit the button to call the lift. Horrific screeching noises screamed down the shaft as the thing shuddered down to meet them. The sound must have alerted some local Splicers, because yells and threats bounced down the hall. Kiki and Jack gave the tiny lift an awkward look but quickly crammed inside, neither wanting any more Spider fights. The lift took off, gliding slowly back up. Above them could be heard a piano piece being playing very fast, and a man whimpering in fear.

Pressed uncomfortably close together, Jack and Kiki listened to Cohen muttered instructions to the player at the piano. "No, no, no…Allergo, _allegro! _Da da da da da da, and presto! No, no!" The lift came to a halt and the pair toppled out, getting their utility belt and jumper straightened out before continuing into the Hall.

The music was much louder once inside, but that was the least of their concerns. On the stage was a man in a colourful bird mask and filthy smoking jacket, trying desperately to play the piece as well as he could. The grand piano was covered in enormous rolls of dynamite, draped across the shiny black wood and around the feet of the bench. On the red curtain behind the pianist, silhouettes of women with feathers behind their head and shears in their hands appeared and reappeared in various poses of dancing and fighting.

The music stopped as the pianist became too distressed to play. "I'm trying…_please…_" He wept. The voice, though contorted with fear, made Kiki freeze up.

"Once again, young Fitzpatrick." Cohen sighed impatiently, and he started playing again.

"Ow." Jack pried Kiki's fingers away from his hand, where she had been holding with such force the skin had broken in places to leave crescent-shaped marks in his hand.

"Sorry." She said quickly, and sprinted down the stairs. Getting a running start made it easier for her to scrabble onto the stage, her cold, shaking fingers grasping at the floorboards. Taking a tiny knife from her belt, she crawled under the piano and found the detonation device. Giving it a once-over, she picked a wire that looked promising and held the blade to it.

"Ah, ah, ah, my little red butterfly." Cohen warned from above. "Don't fly so close to the flame..."

Kiki paused for a moment, hesitating, thinking if it was the right thing to do, and cut the wire.

She braced for the explosion that would follow, eyes shut and head turned from the device. But after a few seconds with nothing, she laughed in giddy relief she wasn't dead. Shaking from adrenaline, Kiki crawled from under the piano and back across the stage to set herself back down on shaky legs. Jack put an arm around her, but Kiki shook her head.

"No, no, I think…I'm okay, I'm fine." She nodded and ran a hand through her hair with a relieved chuckle. "Whew. Just glad I'm not dead."

"Such an unwise choice. Perhaps I overestimated you as an artist, my dear butterfly." Cohen sighed from the radio. "No matter. Perhaps it's best for you to jump right in. I desire his image captured, in its most _pure form_, so I may remember him."

"Katy?"

The word made Kiki jump, like someone had burst a paper bag next to her ear. She turned around to see the pianist watching her with an inexplicable look on his face. "Hello, Kyle." She greeted, and found her voice to be rather quiet. She stepped back a little, almost fearfully, so she was partially behind Jack.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Kyle stumbled down from the stage, also getting over the shock. His question wasn't particularly angry or concerned, just curious.

"Top secret." Kiki replied, getting over herself somewhat, but still staying close to Jack. "None of your business."

"Why not?" Kyle walked closer. "I mean, you can trust me, right? I trust _you_. You saved my life just now."

"Fuck off." Kiki suddenly spat. She stepped away from Jack, though her hand knotted in the sleeve of his jumper. "I'm done with you. I saved your life because of what we once were. I want nothing in return, only that you start running, and never stop."

"What are you gonna do if I don't, Kitty Kat?" Kyle stepped closer with a threatening air. Passing under a spotlight, a flicker of shadow was visible on his face. There was a deep scar on his left cheek in a curiously square shape. Like the heel of a shoe.

Kiki reached for her pistol, but was surprised when Jack beat her to it. He let his hand, burning with Incinerate, hover next to Kyle's face. A shadow of fear passed behind the latter man's eyes, but he did a very good job of hiding it. Instead, he smirked a little.

"So, who're you?" He asked and folded his arms. "Her bodyguard? Or her fuck toy?"

Kiki had her gun out now, the hammer cocked back with a foreboding snap. She pressed the barrel to Kyle's forehead, forcing him to step back. Genuine fury broiled behind her eyes now.

"Your life is _mine_." She growled. "Your _existence _is now nothing but _debt to me."_ She pressed the gun into his skin with more force. "I can, and will, end it _whenever I feel like it_. Understand, you slimy piece of abusive, drinking, smoking, power-hungry _rubbish_? You're mine now. It's my turn."

By this time Kyle was leaning back against the stage, the barrel of the gun leaving a circular red mark on his head. They glared at each other, each other's ferocity battling between their stares. Anger oozed off of Kyle like water, but his silence was a grudging agreement enough. Kiki tossed the gun back into its holster, grabbed Jack's shoulder as she walked around to the exit.

"Come on, Jack. You too, Fitz." She called over her shoulder.

"Care to explain?" Jack said under his breath.

"No." She replied as quietly. "No, I'll tell you. But later. Ooh, wait, before we go." She pointed up at the opposite balcony, directing her companions' attention to a glowing jar sitting on the edge. It shone brightly yellow, beaming at them. "That looks promising. This way."

Kiki lead them around the entrance, past the ticket booth and around through the back hall. The door to the balcony was, of course, blocked up with debris, so she chose the second door on the right and emerged looking over the stage and ruined red seats, the piano with the undetonated dynamite still wrapped around like a macabre scarlet cloak. The shining golden tonic still sat perfectly balanced on the ledge of the adjacent balcony, taunting them.

"Fantastic." Kiki said sarcastically, directing it at Jack, as she was pretending Kyle wasn't present. "That's a good ten feet with a twenty-foot drop."

She started shoving some smashed seats away from the edge and made to hop up. Jack held out a hand, stopping her, and climbed up himself. Bouncing a little to apparently psych himself up to it, he took a running start and leapt to the tonic.

"Jesus!" Kiki leaned over to see Jack dusting himself off. A spotlight was following him and Kiki, and the one on him illuminated a man's corpse in the corner of the balcony as well.

"What an outstanding display of athleticism." Cohen commented lightly over the intercom.

Jack tossed the tonic over and Kiki grabbed it protectively, hugging it like a large, glowing egg. "Now get your Yankee arse back over here before you get hurt." She called over. Jack waved a hand, smirking, and jumped back.

"Smells like…" Kiki took the cap off the tonic and gave it a good whiff as they walked back to the atrium. "Something…Engineering?" She dipped a finger in the yellow goo and gave it a taste. It was oily and coppery, like blood. "Definitely Engineering. Has that metallic alarm-related hint to it. Alarm Expert, I think. Not bad, not great."

"You've never used a tonic before…" Kyle mused from behind.

"You can have this one if you like, Jack." Kiki ignored him, handing the tonic over. Jack made a face, but drank the tonic quick as he could while walking. Once it was gone, he shook his head.

"Ugh." He smacked his lips. "A bad one."

"Yeah, that wasn't very tasty." Kiki couldn't help but crack a grin at the mildly repulsed expression on his face. "I like physicals. Best one, hands down, EVE Saver. Had this sort of apple-pie, cinnamon, spicy taste. SportBoost Two was decent as well, tasted like sugar water."

She chattered on as usual, Jack paying attention while still looking amused, now seemingly oblivious to Kyle's presence. They walked back out into the atrium, and the spotlights from before snapped down at the trio.

"I know why you've come, little moth." Cohen sang through the radio, directing this at Jack. "You've your own canvas, one you'll paint with the blood of a man I once loved. Yes, I'll send you to Ryan, but first you must be part of _my _masterpiece."

On the stage in the atrium, where there had previously been nothing, there was now a horrid sculpture of men in rabbit masks holding four picture frames. Two hung upside-down from trapeses, whilst two more sat on yet two others' shoulders. The six were all like the women on the strings by the bathysphere, some odd stone or paper maché. On the empty frames, large white X's were slashed across in paint.

"Do you see it?" Cohen gasped. "When I am dust, this is what they'll point to. My quadtich. Go ahead! Don't be afraid…touch it."

All three were lingering back on the stairwell, uneasy about this "art" that Cohen was rubbing in their faces. Presumably, Kyle was supposed to get blown sky high by the piano, and then a picture of his body was to be placed in one of the frames. However, since Kyle was still quite alive, there was little for them to do.

"This is just the moment of conception." Cohen went on, excited. "Out in this place, there are three men, excluding young Fitzpatrick, all former disciples of mine. All connected by a common thread: betrayal. Find them, little insects, and immortalise them in my quadtich. Go! Once they've been sent to their reward, you shall go to yours…and to Ryan."

"You're trying to kill Ryan?" Kyle asked incredulously. "You have to be kidding me. You're crazier than I thought, Katy."

"Jack, next stop is Poseidon's Plaza." Kiki pointed up the stairs. "I think I know the other four he wants us to kill. But, first…" She turned and aimed her pistol at Kyle, causing him to jump and hold his hands up.

"Whoa, hey, let's not get hasty." He said quickly. Kiki blasted a warning shot above his head. "Gah! Bitch!"

"Shut up. In order for us to get out of here, and to Ryan, you need to die. And forgive me if I'm not exactly sad about it."

"Okay, okay, I get it. I know." Kyle stammered. "But, let's think. I was pretty decent to you, right? There were bad times, yeah, but we were still friends at least, right? You don't _really _have to kill me, right?"

Kiki glowered at him for a moment, pitiful and bargaining for his life. Her mouth curved up in a sort of self-satisfied smile. "Oh, how sweet your own medicine must taste." She purred. "Yes, you have to die. Oh, yes, I'm going to kill you. And yes, yes, I'm going to enjoy it. But I think you'll be the last one. You'll be _my _quadtich."

Kiki lowered her pistol. Jack was watching her with an apprehensive look, like how one would watch a volatile explosive. She beamed at him and hooked her arm through his. "Come along, Jumper Jack, we've got an appointment in Poseidon's Plaza."


	6. A Window to the Past

_-Don't mind me, this chapter's a bit longer. I just couldn't stop writing! _

_-Such fast updates recently, I'm on a roll._

_Quote:__ "__The friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you." -Elbert Hubbard, __The Notebook__, 1927_

_Listen to:__ "Two Small Deaths", Wye Oak_

_-o-_

_31 December, 1958. _

_Susanne shoved her way through the crowd of people, all wearing bright masks in celebration of the New Year. It was the highly anticipated Masquerade Ball at the Kashmir Restaurant, for the elite and wealthy of the city. People were drinking and laughing, although there was an air of unease lingering behind; rumors of war brewing between Atlas and Ryan, of people being beaten and killed in the streets, unchecked. Rapture was a powder keg ready to blow any day, at the slightest spark or provocation. _

_The blonde continued pushing roughly at people in her way, searching the crowd for a familiar red mane. And then she found it, that flash of scarlet that was a giveaway tell for Katy, standing on the other side of the dance floor where couples spun in happy circles. She was wearing her green dress, like so long ago when they had seen the Daddy and Sister. A mask like a white bird clung to her sharp features. _

"_Katy! Oh, Katy, darling, I've been worried absolutely sick!" Susanne rushed up to her, cutting across the dance floor. "Where on earth have you been?"_

"_Sorry, Susanne." Katherine said, a little unapologetically. "I've been a bit…busy."_

"_Oh, I know." Susanne nodded vigourously, her rabbit mask shifting a little. "What the hell happened? Half the theatre is talking about it. And what the hell have you done to your hair!"_

"_I beat the daylights from Kyle with my shoe." Katherine answered like it was nothing. There was an eerie calm to her composure and voice. "I went to his flat. He slapped me. I took off my shoe and beat him until a paramedic was needed. He's currently in the Medical Pavilion, recovering. And I thought I would try something different." Katherine touched her newly cut hair, chopped away to her ear._

_Susanne sat with a disbelieving huff, her face pale and mouth open. "Katy…what have you done?"_

"_Nothing of import. Only what was needed, to keep him in line."_

"'Keep him in line'_?" Susanne asked incredulously. "Darling, I think beating a man half to death is more than keeping him in line."_

"_Maybe. But I was also very, very angry." Katherine turned a little, just to look around the room and take a sip of champagne, but the movement made her dress with the slit up the thigh shift to expose a black strap around her leg._

"_Katy." Susanne said, staring. "Are…are you wearing a gun?" _

"_Oh, I almost forgot about that." Katherine moved the dress aside to show the 9mm pistol on her leg. "Yes, I thought that with all the dangerous happenings, I ought to arm myself."_

"_Do you even know how to…use it?"_

"_My father was a bit of a marksman, but it doesn't take much. Point and shoot, bad things go away." _

_The clock struck midnight, the heavy, weighted strikes going out to signal the New Year. The patrons of the restaurant cheered and couples kissed. Katherine raised her glass to nothing and drained it. She opened her mouth to speak, but then something happened. _

_The spark._

_An explosion shook the entire building from the very roots, and partygoers cried out. Those who were dancing stopped, and for a moment, there was no sound but the dolling of the clock. _

_Gunfire shattered the silence, pattering around the room. Splicers stormed inside the restaurant, screaming pro-Atlas and anti-Ryan ramblings, beating those who got too close. The panic set in all at once, a heavy curtain of hysteria. Dust fell from the ceiling as Splicers with burning orange hooks crawled along, yelling at the people below in contorted voices. Bullets crackled loudly and horribly, shattering bottles of spirits behind the bar and making everyone briefly duck. Anyone with two brain cells was preparing any plasmids they had for combat. _

_Susanne was crying in fear, along with many others. Katherine pulled her pistol from the leg holster and aimed it at the nearest Splicer. He was slobbering and vile, waving a rusty piece of pipe in the faces of a man and woman, but he still looked like a person. Katherine hesitated, her finger freezing on the trigger._

_Someone shoved into her in panic, and the pistol shot deafeningly loud in her ear. A man screamed in agony, though she wasn't sure if it was the Splicer and, frankly, she didn't want to know. _

"_Susanne! Susy, where are you?" Katherine stood and looked around, craning her neck while still being pushed and almost knocked down completely by terrified party guests. Her friend had disappeared, either run off or trampled beneath the people trying to escape. _

_A woman lay in the dance floor, her leg twisted at a bad angle by the shin. Katherine elbowed over to her and helped her up, and together they hobbled to the door to the Kashmir. _

"_Oh, thank you," The woman sobbed, flopping down on the steps outside. "Thank you, thank you."_

"_Don't mention it." Katherine, gasping and sweating, pulled her over to the side, away from the guests sprinting from the Kashmir and the Splicers running inside. Smoke billowed from the door, snaking up to hover at the top of the glass hall._

"_M-my name's Angela." The woman said shakily, after a few minutes of getting her bearings. Her light brown hair had been shaken out of a knot and now hung in dirty waves down her face. She had blue eyes, which had pupils dilated in fear taking up most of her iris. _

"_I'm Katherine." The redhead held out her hand, and Angela shook it. Katherine thought for a moment, still shaking hands. "But you can call me Kiki." _

_-o-_

"It's bloody cold." Kiki rubbed her arms, which had erupted with goose bumps. They were in the hall that led to Poseidon's Plaza, and one of Cohen's disciples, Martin Finnegan, had locked himself up there. The entire corridor was glazed over with a thick coating of ice, making the floor slippery and the air so cold it almost burned.

Jack smirked, not bothered nearly as much by it because of his jumper. Given, it was matted down with dirt and blood, but it was still a jumper.

"Oh, will you look at this cheeky bastard." Kiki shouldered Jack with a chuckle.

"Quite the freak couple you two make." Kyle muttered behind them.

"What was that?" Kiki asked over her shoulder. "You want to look at your own small intestine?" Silence. "I thought so."

"I can see your _breath_…" The voice was gritty and threatening, slithering through the corridor in a very ethereal manner. It gave the three pause, but they continued on.

The corridor led into a sort of transitional room, a large high-ceilinged hall that stretched back about a dozen metres. It was just as frozen as the corridor; huge slicks of ice crawled up the walls in places. Foot-long stalactites hung from the ceiling, massive icicles six inches wide or more. Most unnerving of all, however, were the frozen statues of Splicers dotting the long hall. They were stuck in various positions of running, fighting, or hiding.

"Well, that's…" Kiki clenched her hands, which had briefly frosted over. "That's a little creepy." Taking a few steps in, she held up her hand to use Incinerate, and was appalled to see ice dashing along her skin, holding it there. She looked to Jack to warn him, but saw him already encased, looking at his hands in wide-eyed surprise. Kiki's head was lodged in it's turned position as the ice stopped all movement.

For a few minutes, she wasn't sure what to do. The room was distorted and cloudy through the ice, but she could move her eyes. To her left, the hall stretched out. Directly in front of her, and, she realised with a metaphorical twist of the mouth, slightly above her, Jack was sealed away as well. He looked over at her, and for a moment they shared the same look of total unknowing for the immediate future. They looked away as footsteps clicked purposefully toward them.

"Has the old grape finally sent someone?" A man in a bird mask like Kyle's walked toward the three frozen. His voice had that crazed edge to it, that touch of insanity where one was never sure what he would do. "Son of a bitch…left me to _fre-e-ze_. Oh, I've got a pose all picked out for you…"

Kiki felt her arms being twisted and moved by uncaring hands, her head being twisted. Her entire body was picked up and moved. She could hear Finnegan's footsteps underneath her as he carried her to what she could see was the far end of the hall. He walked away, and there was silence for a minute before he came back with Jack. Finnegan looked to be having a harder time carrying him, but managed to put him down next to Kiki.

The way their heads were turned, they were looking at each other, either up or down since there was a good few inches difference in their height. Their hands were clasped around each other's, and Kiki's foot was up a little. It was supposed to make them look like a couple, but it was really very uncomfortable and made less than romantic by the life-threatening cold. In the corner of her eye, Kiki could see Kyle posed with his arms in Hamlet-like positions, looking up to the ceiling.

Water leaked down Kiki's hand to trickle down her arm. She looked at her hands held underneath Jack's. Incinerate was boiling under the ice of his left, freeing it. He wiggled his fingers, getting the plasmid hot again, and he blasted himself free. Shaking bits of water and snow from his hair and jumper, he quickly freed Kiki as well.

"Good lord, he's gone off the deep end." She bent down, her hands on her knees. It felt like she'd been half drowned. She snapped Kyle out almost as an afterthought, and the smoker crumpled, coughing heavily.

"What the fuck…was that about?" He demanded between hacking up globs of spit and water.

"Martin Finnegan." Kiki shook out her hair, sending bits of frost around. "This'll make killing him less of a chore. Thanks, by the way." She gave Jack a thumbs-up.

"Where did he go?" Kyle looked around the room, as Finnegan had apparently vanished after putting them in their final resting places.

Jack whistled and pointed, directing their attention to one of the Splicer statues. It was hard to tell, but Finnegan had apparently frozen himself to hide or otherwise wait until more people came.

"That's convenient." Kiki said, walking up to him. She placed her pistol at his head and pulled the trigger. Shards of ice exploded backwards, as well as a shower of blood and gray brain matter.

"That was bracing." Cohen chimed in, finally. "Take a photo of him and put it in the quadtych. I'm feeling full, like an expectant momma."

"Ew." Kiki took out her camera. "Well, I guess Finnegan's fame was…" She took the picture with a click and flash of the bulb. "Sleeting."

Kyle slapped a hand over his eyes and shook his head. Kiki laughed at her own joke as she waved the Polaroid out. Jack patted her shoulder in sarcastic reassurance as he walked past, snagging the picture away and leading them back out into the atrium.

"Come on, that was good, right?" Kiki followed him, tucking away her camera. "That was pretty clever!"

"Let's just say you haven't gotten any better at jokes in the past two years." Kyle said.

"Shut up, that was good." Water splashed up from Kiki's shoes as she walked through a little puddle. Jack paused when he got to the quadtych, picture in hand, but hesitantly placed it in one of the frames.

"It's coming together…yes…but there will always be doubters. You don't doubt me, do you?" Cohen asked from the radio. "I could never stomach doubters."

"Now, I may be wrong, but I think the next target is Silas Cobb." Kiki said unsurely. "Cobb got along with Cohen all right. He owned the record store in the Plaza."

"Very good, little butterfly." Cohen congratulated. "Head there now, and capture his image in his defining moment. But for your trouble, here's something to ease the burden." Next to the quadtych, a stone-like man with a rabbit mask like the ones holding the frames emerged, cross-legged, from the floor holding something that made Kiki grin.

"Oh, brilliant! Er, thanks, Mr Cohen." She jumped over to the crossbow and picked it up, loading a bolt. "This is just excellent. Okay, boys, back through the corridor and then to the Plaza we go."

"But it's freezing cold in there!" Kyle almost whined. Without missing a beat, Kiki changed her plasmid to Winter Storm, held his hands together behind his back and froze them together in makeshift cuffs, and then did the same to his ankles.

"Then you can stay here." She snapped, dragging him by the collar to sit against the stage. "We'll be back with the pictures of Cobb and I'm thinking Rodriguez. Then, it's your turn." Kiki shouldered her new weapon and walked back off to the Plaza.

There was silence for a few minutes. She and Jack walked back toward the flickering blue sign to the Plaza, the only noises being the rustling of their weapons as they walked.

"Okay, you're curious." Kiki decided.

"…Yeah."

"Good a time as any to explain." Kiki took a moment to get her story straight. "Before the Civil War, about two years ago, I was a concert singer. Kyle was the pianist for me most of the time. We dated for, I don't know. A few months. It was good at first, it always is. But then Kyle started to yell at me very often, and was prone to outbursts. It was a week or two before the War when he started…when he started hitting me."

Jack looked back the way they had come, like he briefly thought about going back, but Kiki waved a hand. "It didn't get out of control. Okay, maybe it did, but that's beside the point. A day or two before New Year's, I confronted him. You know the scar on his face there? Yeah, let's just say high heels make for good weapons."

Kiki switched to Incinerate and melted away the ice that blocked the door to the Plaza. "Long story short, I hold grudges. I'm looking forward to killing that bloody son of a bitch."

"Why haven't you?"

It was the first real statement Jack had said in a while, and the question itself took Kiki off guard a little. "I…oh, I don't know. Maybe because I actually knew him before. Maybe because I'm a sentimental idiot. I don't know."

"Katherine, will you be able to?" Jack stopped and looked at her. Kiki mentally counted the words, wondering if she'd just beat the record on How Long A Sentence Can You Make Jack Say, and decided she had.

"Yeah. I mean, I've killed all sorts of people. The bastard who abused me isn't much different." Kiki's confident smile flickered away for a moment, like make-up smearing away. Jack looked at her, almost pitying, and put an arm around her shoulders.

"Holy Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" Kiki exclaimed with a laugh, goose bumps rippling up her arms and up her neck at the change of temperature. She hugged Jack, suddenly feeling the sharp cold of the hall. "Since when were you a bloody furnace?" She laughed, her voice muffled in the jumper. "Okay, furnace boy, through to the Plaza."

They shuffled past the last door, which spat them out into the actual Poseidon's Plaza. Right away there were the familiar sounds of drywall being torn away. Kiki aimed her new crossbow at the ceiling, watching for movement or glowing hooks.

"Bitches better watch out, 'cause I've got a crossbow…" She sang quietly to herself, bouncing back and forth. A Spider dropped down in front of her on cue and began gracefully cartwheeling toward her. Kiki fell back a step as she shot the crossbow, and the Spider was down for the count. After realising it only took one shot, Kiki laughed giddily.

"Whoo! Oh, I'm going to enjoy using this." She flipped the crossbow around and kissed the polished handle. "Come here, you lovely killing machine, you."

Two more Spiders were crawling around the walls, though it was hard to see. The ground floor, which they were on, was quite dark due to all the lights being out. The only light came from the staircase leading to the top floor, and a flaming Spider that went sprinting in front of Kiki, waving her arms and screaming.

A hand grabbed the back of Kiki's shirt, and she swung her arm around to throw him off. The Splicer yelled something in her ear, too loud for her to make out. He picked her up off the floor like a dog carries its pups and started running. Kiki waved her legs, trying to trip him, and succeeded in getting him tangled up. They fell down, but the Splicer's hand remained gripping her shirt.

Pain stung her back, and the Splicer started screaming hideously loud. Jack had started him on fire. The addict stood and ran around to try and put out the fire, but soon keeled over, dead.

"Whew, thanks for that. Is that all of them?" Kiki asked, patting the flames away from her now singed shirt. "Right, Rapture Records is…this way."

Somewhere on the floor above them, a Big Daddy was walking. It was too easy to hear his thundering footsteps and thoughtful, incoherent mumbles. A girl's voice chirruped along as well—he had a Sister. Jack looked up, looking like he wanted to go up there, but Kiki patted his arm and shook her head.

"We'll take care of them later. Right now, let's get rid of Cobb." She encouraged, and they continued into the record store.

Fire flickered on the floor below them. The stairs that led down had been completely chopped away, along with a lot of the top floor. A shadow flickered down below and disappeared. The pair at the top both loaded their weapons at the sight. Kiki stepped forward first, edging closer. Two doors were on either side of the lower room, both closed. There were some scattered, broken records and smashed pieces of wood. A poster advertising Jasmine Jolene was leaning up against the pillar in the centre of the room, burning, along with other random debris.

"Yeah, it all seems good." Kiki whispered, making a beckoning motion. "I guess we'll just have to jump for i—ah!"

The beam underfoot snapped, pitching her forward with a surprised yell. She felt a tug on her shirt as Jack tried to grab her, but it was the ashen, singed part, and the cloth broke away. Kiki threw out her arms to brace herself for the drop, however short, and hit the ground with a resounding thud.

"Oh…" She groaned. "Oh, cheese and _crackers_, that bloody _hurt_…come on down quick as you like, Jack." Shoes dropped down next to her as Jack joined her, and he helped her up. "No, no, relax, I'm fine. Seriously. Here, let's look at the flashing red light."

Kiki walked toward the pile of debris, where there was indeed a red light flashing amongst the broken filing cabinets and burning paper. "Uh, on second thought, run." She waved Jack off, and when he didn't move, grabbed his arm and pulled him further back into the store. "Run!"

The following explosion sent a plume of fire rolling up through the shop. The shockwave sent both Kiki and Jack flying a few feet, and shards of wood and glass blasted out to lodge into the walls. Pricks of pain showered up Kiki's side facing the pillar of rubbish. Her knees slipped in blood as she scrabbled to her feet.

"Fuck, fuck and triple fuck!" She snapped, loading the crossbow and stepping back into the open room. "Where the hell is he?"

On cue, a flaming Molotov cocktail came soaring over the edge. "Shit! Telekinesis, Telekinesis!" She held up a hand and focused, catching the cocktail midair and sending it hurling back to the attacker. Splicers charged in from the side doors as Jack stood to join her. "Jack, hold 'em off while I take care of Cobb!"

Jack stormed off, Incinerate and machine gun blazing. Another homemade bomb flew toward Kiki, who focused on it and sent it back again. This time, it hit someone. A man screamed, his figure lighting up in flames. He was on the top floor where they had been, and in his panic fell off the edge as Kiki had done, only with less preparation for the fall. Bones crunched horrifically against the floor, and Silas remained twitching, still inexplicably alive. Kiki took her pistol out and put the burning man out of his misery.

"He was a nasty one…and my favourite." Cohen sighed from the radio. "But I think I like him better this way. Take his damn photo, chop chop!" Kiki silently removed her camera from her belt and snapped a photo of the still burning body.

Tucking the picture away, she saw Jack struggling to hold off two Spiders and a Houdini by himself. Kiki ran over, limping slightly now as the adrenaline wore off somewhat, but grinning as she speared one of the Spiders with the crossbow. "Bitches," She loaded a new bolt. "I've got a crossbow!" The Houdini appeared long enough to splash liquid fire at them, and get shot by a trigger-happy Kiki.

"How do we get out of here?" She panted once the Splicers were dealt with. She looked around the room. "Just what I needed." She pointed to a vent that had been busted open in the fight. "Crawling through air ducts." Kiki crouched down at the vent and looked up. "Looks like it'll lead us right up to the top floor. Come along, Jack."

Getting down on all fours, she crawled up the ventilation shaft. It was dark but for some flickering orange light shining at the other end. The metal made wobbling noises from their weight as she and Jack crawled upward.

Kiki was about halfway up the vent when she realised something. "You are looking _right _at my arse, aren't you?"

"…No?"

"You cheeky little…" Kiki kicked backward a little with a chuckle and continued on. "Once we're out of here I'm going to smack you."

The vent did, in fact, lead them to the top floor. Kiki got out with a groan, tentatively touching her bleeding back. Jack emerged a moment later, and got a right smack to the arm.


	7. Haunted

_-I'm neglecting my Doctor Who fic for this one, which both makes me very happy and irritates me, because I watch the new episodes and think OMG THAT WOULD BE SO AWESOME IN MY STORY and then the inspiration dies and I wind up back here with Furnace Boy and the Girl With A Thousand Names. _

_-Yes, some more time has passed than it seems. But their little tasks take a bit of time here and there._

_-I really like this one. Just putting that out there._

_W'P_

_Quote: __"__We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey." -Kenji Miyazawa_

_Listen to:__ "Animal," Neon Trees (Here we go again, we're sick like animals we play pretend, you're just a cannibal and I'm afraid I won't get out alive…)_

_-o-_

_2__January, 1959_

_Kiki was curled up on her sofa, gripping her 9mm pistol with painful force. Outside her flat, she could hear people rioting in the halls below. Occasionally, someone would run through the corridor, past her flat. About half the time, they were screaming. She knew they were Splicers. The radio was on, and the transmissions alternated between Ryan, and Atlas hacking in. _

_She hadn't seen Susanne since the Battle of the Kashmir, as it had come to be known. That worried her; Susanne came by what felt like every day. She prayed to God that she was alive, but these days, she wasn't sure if even He was reliable anymore. If He was, why would He let this happen?_

_Kiki jumped as someone banged on her door. They didn't want to be let in; it was a Splicer doing it for the fear tactics. Her breath coming in fast, terrified pants, Kiki pulled the pistol closer. Quietly, so very quietly so no one would hear her, she began to cry. _

_-o-_

"No. I'm fine."

"You're not."

"I am! Can barely feel it."

"Don't make me undress you."

"Oh-ho, touché, love. _Touché._ Yes, fine, over here." Kiki walked over to a small alcove between two pillars and sat with a grit of her teeth, pain prickling up her back. Jack turned away and she took off her shirt, crumpled it up and laid on it with her back up. "Okay, doctor, go crazy." Jack made a noise of disapproval. "What, does it really look that bad?"

"There's a lot of debris." He replied. There were some tinkering sounds as he took out bandaging and a pair of tweezers, sitting next to her and tuning his radio into a channel that miraculously still played music, although grainy and faint, a male, crooning voice could be made out. "This is going to hurt."

"Ow! Bloody hell…" Kiki grumbled, gritting her teeth.

"I told you." Jack plucked another splinter from behind her shoulder blade, and got a subsequent kick in the shoulder. "Hey!"

"Oops." Kiki looked over her shoulder and winced at Jack, who was grumpily rubbing his arm. "Sorry, that one really hurt." Jack waved a hand, not really that bothered, and with a piece of bandaging dabbed away the dribble of blood that leaked from the puncture wound.

Kiki started to curl up, an instinctive reaction to the pain, but Jack pressed his hand on her back to keep her lying flat. "Stay still." He instructed firmly as he pulled out a fragment of cement large enough that it took some muscle with it. "You should be happy nothing hit your spine."

"Fuck, that hurts." She hissed, burying her face between her arms, folded in front of her and let out a sob without tears. "Silas Cobb, rot in hell. Why did _I _have to get all the rubbish in my back?"

Jack removed bits of poster paper and wood from her skin and tapped them off the pinchers. "You were closer to the bomb," He dripped a tiny amount of water on her back to rinse the wounds. "And in front of me."

"You're welcome, then." Kiki grumbled, turning her head to speak over her arms. She felt Jack's fingers brush away a bit of blood, lingering slightly on her skin. "You know, I think you're enjoying this too much." She muttered.

"Serves you right, you know." He replied, carefully removing paper fibres from an open cut.

"Serves _me _right! Why? I took the brunt of that bleeding bomb."

"You should've watched your step. Then we wouldn't be here in the first place."

"You're feeling awfully talkative." Kiki directed the topic away from the fact that he was right. "I'm running out of fingers—ow!"

"Sorry, that was pretty far in there." Jack flicked away a long, sharp chip of cement. "What do you mean, 'out of fingers'?"

"I've sort of been counting how many words you say in one sitting. Last record was six, which you've since—ouch—beaten. I'm running out of fingers to count on."

"Ha." Jack said, amused. "Find something to bite."

Kiki stuffed part of her shirt into her mouth and bit down just as Jack rubbed the shallow wounds down with alcohol. She spat and cursed into her shirt, clenching her hands tightly in the fabric, tears brimming in her eyes. Finally, mercifully, Jack gave her a dose of ADAM to drink, which she slugged down in record time, healing over the cuts and the tiny patch of burned skin from the Splicer that had grabbed her earlier.

"That was just bad." Kiki groaned, sitting up and holding her shirt up. "Nothing about that was good." She pulled a chip of wood from the back of her thigh. "In my legs too, but I think you've undressed me enough for one day." She smirked at Jack, who looked away, getting his cue as Kiki pulled her shirt back on. She buttoned it up, the back feeling a little breezier due to all the holes.

"Ugh." She scooted back to lean against the wall, rubbing her eyes. "I'm not enjoying hunting these bastards down. Haven't slept for…" She counted on her fingers. "80 hours as of six minutes ago."

Jack smiled and moved to sit next to her, loading his machine gun. Kiki leaned out and shot a trap bolt over the entrance to the alcove, leaving an electrocuted wire that would kill any curious Splicers. "So you're doing what, keeping guard?" Jack nodded at Kiki's question. "All right. But don't you dare let me sleep more than a couple hours." She yawned and crossed her arms, drifting off as Jack's radio spluttered on.

"You flutter all about the Fort, taking life as you go…" The artist hummed. "You aren't insects…you're angels. I've never painted an angel before…maybe I should…"

-o-

"Ah!" Kiki woke with a start, shaking slightly. Images of burning men and people frozen in ice, avenging angels with butterfly wings and blonde women with faces like rabbit-human hybrids vanished from behind her eyelids. "God dammit…" She leaned into the soft, very warm wall and tried to fall back to sleep. "Wait…" Kiki looked up to see Jack watching her with a wary expression. There was a pause. "How long have I been out?"

Jack checked his watch. "Six hours."

"Six hours! Why didn't you wake me up? What time is it?"

"I fell asleep too. And it's…" He checked his watch again. "Five in the morning."

"Oh." Kiki drummed her fingers on his side, her arms still wrapped around his torso in a hug. "So…we should probably go find Kyle before he escapes, huh?" She sighed and dropped her head back on Jack's arm over her shoulders. "But you're so cosy! If you weren't a professional jumper-wearer you could make a killing in the market as a blanket."

Jack chuckled and stood, getting a mutter from a now relatively cold Kiki. He pulled the trap bolt from the wall and handed it, now safe, back to Kiki. She put it on her belt and stood, wincing at the couple splinters still in her legs.

"I wonder if his hands have frozen off yet." She mused wistfully as they walked back through the frozen hall. "That would be nice."

"Six hours? Possibly." Jack put his arm back around her and rubbed her shoulder.

"Hey, I'm not _that _cold." Kiki defended. "I grew up in England, I'm used to crap weather." Jack shrugged and removed his arm, only to get it snatched back. "Never mind, freezing cold. Stay close, Furnace Boy."

They walked back into the atrium, keeping a wary eye out. The Splicers seemed to have moved their attention to the Plaza. Kyle was slumped against the stage, sleeping. The ice around his hands and ankles were now just fragile strips that could be broken by simply moving.

"Looks like he's been behaving." Kiki observed, walked up to him. She kicked his leg and Kyle jolted awake with a yell, also breaking the ice binds.

"Gah! Jesus, what do you…oh. Finally remember I was here, did you?" Kyle sneered. He looked down at his hands and cried out in panic. "Oh my god! What did you do to my hands?"

The skin of his arms was swollen and red, bulging around blackened, spotty dead patches around his wrists. Pulling up his trouser legs, the same was evident on his ankles.

"Oops." Kiki said remorselessly.

"Oops! _Oops?_" Kyle snapped, standing on shaky legs. "That's all you can say is _oops?_" He raised his hand like he was going to hit her, but the lightning fast drawing of a pistol stopped him.

"I wouldn't." Kiki growled, pressing the barrel to his neck, facing up his jaw. She pulled the hammer back and rested her finger on the trigger. "I really wouldn't."

Kyle wobbled on injured legs and stumbled back to sit on the stage, holding up a hand. "Okay, okay, relax. We're good."

"No we're not. Shut up." Kiki handed the picture of the dead Cobb to Jack, who stepped up on the stage to place it in the next frame up. He gave the macabre masterpiece a slightly disgusted look, which Kiki shared in a glance with him.

"Half way done…what's that look?" Cohen suddenly snapped from the radio. "You don't like it, do you? I don't need to be judged by you…by anyone! Screw you! Screw all you fucking doubters! _Here's what I say to all of you_!"

The lights on all the neon signs turned dark red, making the atrium considerably dimmer. There was silence for a moment, and then music started up, blaring through the large hall in a somewhat random manner.

"Um…is that Tchaikovsky?" Kiki pointed up and nodded with the other two. "Yeah, that's not good. Well, it's good, and really beautiful, but a little disconcerting. Oh, you know what I mean."

The Splicers dropped in from nowhere. One second the three were alone, the next, they were being bombarded by crazed drug addicts. Four of the things were on them unprepared, standing by the stage and more were running in from the shadows under the second floor balcony. Jack hit one with Electro Bolt, freezing him to the spot. Kiki yelled out and shot a Spider with the crossbow, running back to get some breathing air.

"Fly away, little moth!" Cohen screamed. "_FLY!"_

Dust began puffing up from the walls, Spiders digging up the plaster with their hooks and gunshots roaring along the tiles. "What do I do?!" Kyle yelled at the fighting couple helplessly, dodging a swing from a female Thug.

"Fight, you _fucking_ idiot!" Kiki bellowed back, shooting another with the crossbow, twisting and pulling her pistol out to blast an oncoming Splicer in the chest. "Jack, your four o'clock!" Jack turned and the shotgun boomed with a fleshy squelch, a cracking of bones and thumping of a body hitting the floor.

"Where did all these fuckers come from?" Kiki yelled rhetorically. "Not so fast!" She threw out a hand in Kyle's general direction and froze his legs as he was trying to make a break for it. She chuckled and turned, shooting the first thing that moved.

"_Mrghghrhgh!_" The Big Daddy groaned angrily, the circular holes in the diving helmet turning an ominous red to match the rest of the room.

"Come on!" Kiki slumped for a moment, cursing her luck, but popped back up again as the Daddy took a swipe at her with his drill. "That was close. Jumper, a little help would be appreciated!"

"Busy!" Jack shot a few Splicers, all of which kept getting up and coming at him again.

Kiki got a sudden sense of déjà vu. She barely dodged another swing from the Daddy, but was unable to move fast enough to avoid his charge. Lights flashed behind her eyes and pain lashed up her middle like a burning whip, but she got up again and shot the Daddy with Winter Storm, freezing him. She switched her plasmid to Incinerate and promptly roasted the guy, although it seemed to do little. The Daddy didn't just keel over like the Splicers; the flames barely affected him. Kiki made a snap decision and crawled onto the Daddy like a ginger spider, clutching his huge diving helmet. He flailed around, trying to throw her off. Kiki pressed her pistol to a glass seeing hole in the helmet and shot through. The Big Daddy made a horrible screaming noise of pain, increasing his efforts to get her off.

"Jack!" Kiki cried, holding on for dear life.

"_Busy!_" Jack flat-out punched a Splicer in the face, waggling his hand and shooting at others running at him.

"Seriously!" Kiki snapped, her focus wavering. The Daddy threw her off, his hand tight on her arm as he hurled her at the closest wall.

Her vision went out for a moment as her head struck the wall, but Kiki managed to get back up and aim her crossbow. She and the Daddy were both seriously injured, but she would be fucked if she didn't have the last laugh. Kiki shot him with the bow right through the chest, and the bolt had enough barbed damage to kill him dead.

"Christ, finally." She gasped and hunched over, trying to get her breath. The Little Sister he had been with suddenly screamed in realisation of what had happened and rushed up to her protector. Kiki scooped her up, seeing that the wave of Splicers had nearly ended now, and made half-hearted, tired shushing noises as she carried the girl to Jack.

Jack, having just taken care of the rest of the Splicers, turned and picked the Sister up. The air began to glow white like before, as well as his veins. The girl's head lolled back and she spasmed once before he set her down. The girl ran away, thanking Jack profusely.

"I will never get over that." Kiki fumbled for a vial of ADAM. Jack simply shrugged, like it was no big deal. "No, you don't get it. They were like that before the War, too, and it was bad then. It's worse now. Seeing them is like seeing ghosts. And you bring those girls back, it's like…like waking from a nightmare." She wiped a bit of ADAM from the side of her mouth, the double vision going away and the limp in her walk disappearing. "Except we don't, do we?"

Kyle was sprawled on the ground, face smushed onto the filthy floor and feet frozen in a large block of ice. "Mind letting me out, sweetheart?" He mumbled.

"I would mind, actually. No more breaks for it while we're busy." Kiki snapped him out with Incinerate.

"Sorry if I was running for my life." Kyle grumbled, standing up and holding his injured arms.

"Shut up, there was nothing near you. And once we get the picture of Rodriguez I'm going to be killing you anyway so there's no use trying." Kiki took a length of rope from her handy-dandy utility belt and moved toward him. Kyle made like he was going to move, but in her other hand she aimed her pistol, and Kyle grudgingly stayed still. Kiki tied his arms and legs where the ice burn was, making it even harder for him to break free. "You're welcome."

"I'm sorry that little outburst." Cohen sounded tired over the radio, even genuinely apologetic. "You'll have to forgive an old fool his artistic temperament. The birth is so close now. The labor pains can blur the judgment and drive the passions of even the finest spirits."

"Ew." Kiki muttered. "Okay, Jack, let's just find the next bloke and get out of the Fort before I'm sick."

"You'll find that Hector favored Eve's Garden, my red butterfly." Cohen said helpfully. "Find him, and continue my quadtych."

"Ah, Eve's Garden." Kiki sighed dryly, leading the way through the frozen tunnel again. Jack once again put his arm over her. "The former abode of the lovely miss Jasmine Jolene. At least, it was. Last I heard, she was dead."

They made their way through the Plaza, staying on the ground floor where the Splicers were fewer. It was the same level as the Garden anyway. A security camera was watching over the second half of the Plaza, after the stairs to the top floor cut off. Kiki sidled along the wall and, using her shotgun, blasted it into scrap metal. They kept on, turning down the hall to the Garden. The bright, glowing 'V' in the word 'Eve's' lit up under the pink, smoky lights. Three little x's were under the title of the brothel.

There was a tobacconist's shop about half the way down the hall, which Kiki turned into first. "Always loved the smell of tobacco." She commented as she walked through the still mildly humid aisles. "Reminds me of my father. Do you smoke?"

"Occasionally." Jack answered, checking the darker corners.

"You didn't strike me as the type." Kiki lowered her crossbow. "Well, doesn't look like there's anyone in here. To the Garden we go."

They walked back out and down the hall to Eve's Garden. Front and centre was a small stage with a couple poles and pink lights. To the left was a bar and a staircase up to the second floor. There was no one in sight.

"Well, I guess we should look around." Kiki walked onto the stage and to the back, where she opened a door. "This goes backstage. Maybe he's back here." She went in first, with Jack following. The hall was small and cramped, with a low ceiling and peeling magenta wallpaper. It turned once right and ended at a door to what was probably a bedroom.

Jack suddenly stopped, staring at the door. Kiki turned when she saw he wasn't following. "You all right, Jumper?" He didn't respond. It was like he couldn't hear her, and was seeing something no one else could. "Jack?" Kiki walked back to him and, after a moment, put a hand on his shoulder.

Instantly, she could hear it. A woman's voice, crying. "I didn't know Fontaine had something to do with it…I—no—what are you doing?!" Kiki looked to the door as well, where she could now see a light shining through the bottom, and shadows like feet on the other side. "No, please, don't—I love you, darling—no, please, no—_no!"_

The screaming faded away and the light went out under the door. Jack shook his head like he'd seen a ghost. Kiki blinked furiously, running a hand down her face. "What in the hell was that?" She muttered.

"It's happened a couple times." Jack replied as quietly.

"What is it? I knew her; that was Jasmine Jolene, the lead exotic dancer here in the Garden." Kiki said, stepping toward the door. "I think we just heard her get murdered. Did she say anyone's name before I tapped in on that?"

Jack nodded. "Ryan."

Kiki stopped and looked at him, her mind struggling to put the pieces together. It was like she was trying to put together a puzzle, but didn't have a picture to tell her what it would look like.

"Interesting." She murmured, regarding Jack. "Very interesting." And with that she opened the door to the bedroom.

The place was a mess. Empty bottles of various alcohols laid around the floor, some smashed apart. There were rips and stains on a cartoon poster advertising Jasmine. The usual debris like chunks of stone sat around the room. A square of bluish light shone down through the ceiling of the room, illuminating the bed like a spotlight. The ocean stretched up above. And on the bed, splayed out like a vile angel spattered in blood, was a rotting corpse in dancer's clothes.

"Jasmine." Kiki walked into the room and was hit with the stench of death and disease. Jack faltered upon walking inside, as well, but had no other problems. Under the bed was a generous stack of cash and an audio recording, both of which Kiki grabbed and on the latter, played.

The tape started up with a click. "That creepy Dr Tenenbaum promised me it wasn't gonna to be a _real _pregnancy..." Jasmine whimpered. "They'd just take the egg out once Mr Ryan and I had…I needed the money so bad…but I know Mr Ryan's gonna suss it out, gonna know I wasn't being careful…gonna know I sold the…Mr Ryan's gonna be so mad at me…"

"Hmm." Kiki rubbed her chin and glanced at Jack as she set the tape down. "Any other weird visions that could help explain this? Anything?"

"When I walked in…" Jack said hesitantly, like he wasn't sure. "I saw a picture of my family; my mother."

"I see." Kiki nodded, but waved a hand. "Ah, well. Don't mind me."

"What are you thinking?"

"I don't know." They walked back out into the hall. Kiki spoke quietly, more to herself than to Jack. "Just a suspicion."


	8. Downward Spiral

_-I love the flashbacks. I love writing drama, although I'm not that good at it._

_-__**Attention all readers: **__Please review. If you feel like I'm not giving you enough of what you want from this story, don't be afraid to speak up! __ More fluff, more fighting, more snarkiness, more banter, less fighting/snarkiness/banter, whatever! Feel free to contribute._

_-So much happening this chap! I hope it doesn't seem like I'm rushing through…_

_W'P_

_Quote:__ "__My soul is full of whispered song; My blindness is my sight; The shadows that I feared so long are all alive with light."-Alice Cary_

_Song:__ "Youth", Daughter (And if you're still breathing you're the lucky ones, 'cause most of us are breathing through corrupted lungs, setting fire to our insides for fun, collecting names of the lovers that went wrong...the lovers that went wrong. We are the reckless, we are the wild youth…)_

_-o-_

_10 January, 1959_

_Kiki walked with impatient, fearful briskness through the Medical Pavilion. In recent days, the district had been buzzing with countless admissions of those beaten and dying, overdosing on ADAM or some other horrible thing. It smelled sterile and of disease, like blood and alcohol. Nurses in white dresses hurried around in a rush, at least in the lobby, but once Kiki moved through the halls a little more, there wasn't as much traffic. She looked into various room, peeking at the door number or through the window to check for the person she was looking for. No one cared she was snooping—no one cared about anything anymore. At last she found the correct room and entered. _

_Susanne was sitting in a chair next to a hospital bed, a blanket draped across her knees. She held a small romance novella in her hands. Bloodstained bandages were wrapped tightly around her head, where her beautiful blond hair had been shaved away. Bruises were splotched across her fair skin, now pale with loss of blood and addition of medication._

_She looked at Kiki as the woman entered, and her eyes lit up immediately. "Oh, Katy! Thank god, I was simply dying of boredom in this horrid place."_

"_Susanne." Kiki walked over to her friend and sat down on the bed. "How are you? It took me so long to find you, I was worried sick."_

"_Oh, dreadful thing, that." Susanne pushed herself to sit up more. "After that business at the Kashmir, everyone injured there got put right into the Pavilion here, me included. Couldn't talk with anyone outside, what with all this political business and Atlas."_

"_But what happened to you? I tried to find you…"_

"_I was trampled under the crowd, darling." At Kiki's concerned look, Susanne shrugged. "It's not so bad anymore, but, oh, Katy…my skull was cracked, they had to operate to fix it…"_

"_Shh, it's okay." Kiki patted her friend's hand and smiled. "It's all over. You're okay."_

"_Well, that's the thing, darling." Susanne's eyes brimmed with tears. She weakly pulled away the blanket on her lap to reveal a wheelchair. Her smooth legs were slumped lifelessly to one side. "Hit my head a bit harder than they thought, you see."_

"_Oh, Susy…" Kiki tried not to look pitying, but she had no idea how she should act in this. "Are...are you okay? Can I do anything for you?"_

"_Darling, please." Susanne smiled weakly as tears ran down her healing cheeks. "I'm still sexy as silk." _

_-o-_

"Where the hell is he?" Kiki asked rhetorically as she and Jack walked back out onto the strip stage. Even as they did, someone's drunken mumbling could be heard in the direction of the bar. Looking over in disbelief, a man in a telltale, brightly coloured bird mask was sitting at the bar, drinking vodka from the bottle. On the counter sat a box of pre-made Molotov cocktails. Kiki quickly shuffled Jack back behind the corner, into the hall.

"We can avoid another Cobb incident this way." She whispered, loading a new bolt in her crossbow. She peeked around the corner. "Get ready in case I miss." Looking down the sights, Kiki focused in on Rodriguez's head. She took a slow, steadying breath, and pulled the trigger.

The sound of the bolt slicing through his skull was audible all the way where they were crouching. Rodriguez slumped forward in his chair, decidedly dead.

"Boom!" Kiki clenched a fist and pumped her arm once in victory. "Look at that! Crack shot. Damn, I'm good." She jumped up and ran over to the body, camera at the ready. "Wait, let me think…ah, I don't have a joke with this one. Knock knock? Who's there? Pyromaniac. Pyromaniac who? Fucking crossbow bolt in the head." Kiki took the picture. "That one wasn't one of my best."

"Good shot, though." Jack plucked the photo from the camera.

"Wasn't it? Damn, I'm good." Jack gave Kiki a look and she laughed lightly. "It was great, you have to admit. Damn good, in fact."

"You can stop whenever you feel like it."

"Sorry."

They walked back through the Plaza and the frozen hall, and once again found themselves in the atrium. Kyle was sitting sullenly by the stage, glaring into space, still securely bound, and towering above him was the masterpiece. Jack stepped up onto the stage for the third time and placed the picture in its frame. Cohen had nothing to say this time; everyone knew what was next, and no one needed to speak yet. Kiki took her pistol from its holster and pulled the hammer back. It stuck in place with a purposeful click. She put her finger on the trigger and turned to place the long, thin barrel against Kyle's head.

"Any last words, Kyle?" She asked lowly. Noticing now, her arm was trembling minutely.

Kyle looked up at her, eyes full to the brim with hatred. "I'm, not, sorry." He said each word with emphasis, drawing the sentence out with burning precision.

Kiki nodded. "You know, I should thank you. If you hadn't done what you did, I wouldn't have survived this long into the apocalypse. So thank you, Kyle Fitzpatrick, for being a disgusting, abusive, manipulative, slimy piece of scum on the face of the Earth. Goodbye." The gunshot made her jump, and his body slumped back against the stage, blood like deep scarlet oozing across the stage. When Kiki spoke again, her voice shook. "And good riddance."

She put the pistol away and reached for her camera, her hands now shaking more noticeably. Aiming at the body, she found the lens to be remarkably blurry. Jack reached over and gently took the camera from her hands. She heard the clack of the photo being taken, and the wobbling of the picture paper as Jack waved it out and put it in the frame.

"Oh, god," Kiki sat on the floor with a shuddering breath. Jack patted her shoulder and crouched next to her. "No, no, I'm just…I'm just being stupid. Silly old me." She whispered.

The lights went out very suddenly, and a dramatic drumroll ensued. Kiki stood, she and Jack standing near each other. Spotlights circled around the frozen masterpiece on stage. "It…is…finished!" A familiar, theatrical voice cried from the staircase by Fleet Hall, and they whirled.

With a large poof of smoke, a large spotlight shone down at the cloud. Bright confetti sprinkled down on a suited figure at the top of the stairs. He wore a black, gold-trimmed rabbit mask, but it was clear who it was. Cohen descended down the stairs, gesturing grandly at the lit-up masterpiece. "My god, my god, _my god_," He wept. "It's…it's _beautiful._"

He marveled in his "artwork", taking off his mask. His skin was pallid, painted white, and his black hair was slicked back. The tiny moustache on his upper lip accentuated the lines around his mouth. He turned and looked straight at the pair next to him. "You'll find your path to Ryan in clear. Tell him Sander said hello." He bowed deeply to them, and seemed to remember something. "Oh, yes. You may avail yourself upon one of my _lesser _works as a token of our time together."

He led them around the staircase to one of two pedestals enclosed in oval domes of glass. "If you had become my pair of true and loyal disciples, you might have been worthy of seeing inside the box of my most private muse. My most _prized._ But who knows if that man is yet even born?"

The dome of the pedestal on the right raised from a chain attached to the top. Inside was a white torso model, displaying a black rabbit mask. Sitting below was a blue Physical tonic. Jack took the tonic and regarded it a moment. The radio spluttered on, and Atlas' brogue came choppily through. Jack looked down and began tinkering with it to find the right frequency. Meanwhile, Kiki was staring up at the blank eyes of the white half-manikin. She stared for a few seconds and then, hesitantly, reached up and took the mask off. She gave it a long look, and placed it on her face, tying the straps on the back of her head.

"Go forth, my red butterfly." Cohen told her quietly. "Spread your artist's wings across Rapture for me."

Kiki nodded at him and turned back to Jack, making a gesture for the tonic. "Here, let me see." He handed it over and gave the radio a smack. Kiki dipped a finger in the tonic and tasted it. "This is Medical Expert 2, love."

"Take it." Jack nodded. "I had the last one."

Atlas finally came through, his voice faint at first but becoming clearer. "What happened to you? I've been trying to raise you for a dog's age! Never mind. Would you kindly leg it on over to the sphere and head on up to Hephaestus? It's time to settle with Ryan."

Kiki wiped her mouth of bluish tonic and shuddered. "Tastes like a hospital smells. You know how it is." She smiled a little weakly at Jack as they walked back to the entrance of the atrium. He gave her a somber look and put an arm around her shoulder. "I'm not cold anymore, Jack."

"I know." He left his arm where it was.

Kiki looked up at him. "I'm fine, Jack. Really, I am."

"No, you're not." Jack retorted, glancing at her. "It's okay. It wasn't easy, what you did."

"It wasn't." Kiki admitted. She climbed into the bathysphere and sat down on one of the cushioned seats with peeling leather. Jack pulled the lever to Hephaestus and sat next to her. "It's not like I'm not happy. The world is certainly better off without him. But…I don't know. It's hard to describe." She smiled then, a real smile. "And now it's off to Ryan, right? Brilliant. Well, I'm glad I came with you." She took Jack's hand, and after a pause, he smiled back at her.

They sat in content silence as the sphere rose to Hephaestus.

-o-

Kiki jumped a little as the doors opened to Hephaestus. Huge gears were churning away against each other on either side of the entrance hall, almost level with the sphere. She could say with complete honesty that she had never been to the district, and was now remembering why. It smelled of burning flesh instead of just rotting, and like hot metal.

"Watch yourselves." Atlas warned. "Ryan's stirring. We best keep to our knitting. It's time to either run the table or go home empty. Ryan's got the genetic key to Rapture. We get that from him and we get out of this hellhole. We don't, then all three of us are ghosts. Now, would you kindly head to Ryan's office and kill that son of a bitch? It's time to finish this."

They walked out into a glass corridor. It was not peaceful and blue like the rest of the city, but rather glowing red like the cinders of a fire. Straight-ahead and looming above was the massive underwater skyscraper of Ryan Industries. Magma flowed through pipes on the outside of the corridor, which stank of gasoline. Bubbles surged up around the hall from the many pipes around its base. A whale sang far away outside, it's sad song cooing down into the hall.

"I see Cohen's lost his touch." Ryan finally decided to chime in. "If you knew him when…when he used to believe in his work, in the struggle. And now, he rots in that never-land, waiting for someone to come and tell him he's still got it. I suppose that's why he let you live."

Neither Jack nor Kiki were talking, as there were a few Splicers scavenging dead bodies in the hall, and they needed killing. Kiki's newly introverted mood had made both of them more somber, and they slaughtered the Splicers in relative silence.

The next destination was through a short transitional hall, where more gigantic gears ground at deafening volume and an orange _something _flowed through the pipes above their head, and Ryan decided to pop in again. "You can taste it, can't you? _Andrew Ryan_!"

In continued silence they walked through the halls. Steam hissed to fill the quiet for them, water mixed with gas splashing around Kiki's feet. The air was thick and heavy as they went. The next room, a large hall, actually let out a cloud of steam as the door opened, and Kiki held a hand to her nose and mouth as they stepped in.

"Oh, god." She said past her hand. Human bodies in various stages of decay were crucified on the pillars down the hall. Long poles of metal were shot through their sternum, pinning them right to the wall. Bloodstains ran down the white plaster. The bodies, both male and female, were illuminated with large spotlights. Kiki stepped in hesitantly, and Ryan chose that time to talk again.

"A worm looks up and sees the face of God! But look around...it's a regular convention of worms in here. They all had mothers, fathers, people who loved them. They got married, fucked their wives. What makes you think you're any different?" He paused. "I haven't chosen a spot on the wall for either of you yet. Let me know if you have a preference."

Walking through the hall in fearful, horrified awe, Kiki noticed a familiar body, curvy but with disproportionately thin legs. She made a noise of disgusted realisation and stopped. "Oh, god…oh, god…" For the second time that day, her eyes welled up, only this time she began to truly weep. "Oh, Susy…"

Kiki pulled her new mask off and held her hand over her eyes as she cried. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it…" She repeated over and over, shaking her head. "I knew it, I knew it…"

Jack put an arm gingerly on her shoulder, and when she didn't protest, pulled her closer so she could muffle her crying; they didn't need Splicers right now. Kiki sobbed into his jumper, letting out the stress of the past several days with a good, long cry. She hugged him as tight as she was able and for several minutes, simply wept with great gasping, body rattling sobs. Jack patted her head awkwardly, not exactly knowing what to do when confronted with a grief-stricken, crying woman.

When she had cried until her eyes hurt, Kiki pulled away with a new, steely determination to her. She tied the mask back on her face and loaded her crossbow with a new bolt. "Let's go kill Andrew fucking Ryan."

"Now that's what I call a helping hand, lass!" Atlas laughed. The radio stuttered, like two people were trying to hack in, but the Irishman got there first. "Maybe you won't be so useless after all."

"Can it." Kiki snapped. "I've half a mind to come after you when I'm done with Ryan."

"Oh-ho, I'm shaking in my boots." Atlas chuckled at her. "You don't scare me, girly."

"Maybe not. But I am with Jack. And I can reach the radio."

"Don't you _dare—!"_

Kiki leaned over and promptly flicked the radio off. "Ah." She sighed. "Blissful silence." She reached down and grabbed Jack's hand. "Come along, Jumper. We have a crazed dictator to kill." She paused. "I can honestly say that I've never had to say that before."

With Kiki back—at least slightly—to her normal self, things were less tense. In a metaphorical sense, she'd bled out the toxins and was now recovering from the blood loss.

"Heard about Hephaestus a little bit way back." She began, swinging her arm. "Not a lot of talk, though. Ryan spent a lot of time here, though now he's a practical hermit."

"Where is he?" Jack asked.

"My guess is at the top of the building." Kiki answered. She perked up at the sight of the doors at the far end of the hall. "Hello-o-o, what's this?"

At the far end of the hall, after the pillars of the dead, was what looked like a generator of sorts. Two large cables emerged from either side, leading up to either side of a door. Blue rivets of electricity sparked along the sides. The "generator" itself was a few feet tall and had a little lever on the front. Kiki wove and stepped curiously around the thing, observing it while cautiously avoiding the clearly dangerous, exposing wiring.

"What're _you _built for, lovely?" She tapped the top of the generator. "What's behind this door?" A hissing, burning noise stopped her from answering her own question. She and Jack both turned to see a door at the end of the hall being welded open by Splicers. Kiki felt a distinct sense of déjà vu.

"Time to kick ass and take names, Jack my dear." Kiki aimed her crossbow at the door, stepping down into the hall.

"Do they have names?"

Kiki snorted and laughed. "Not anymore."

The door slammed down flat and Splicers ran into the room, guns blazing and screaming as always. Kiki took down the first two with one bolt, which made her bark a disbelieving laugh. Jack mowed down the next few with fire and bullets which both roared with dangerous vengeance. Kiki's mood change was like putting a new light filter on a stage; even the fighting was more upbeat.

"Move aside, you sorry motherfuckers!" Kiki yelled, throwing her arm up and down to reload the crossbow. One Splicer, near dead, turned and began limping back the way they'd come. Her breath was ragged and blood trailed after her from a leg broken the wrong way. Kiki continued down the hall, shooting her nonchalantly in the head as she went. "This is going to be easier than I thought."

After that hall of the dead there was a small room, flooded and occupied by the corpse of a Big Daddy. A steady ribbon of water poured down over the morose figure. They skirted around him and into the next area.

There was really no way to describe it. Some huge mechanism was churning in a cavern ahead. Kiki walked to the rail and looked over into the maw of red rock and magma below. She felt a little, nonthreatening push on her back, and she flinched away from the edge. Jack was chuckling lightly behind her. Kiki turned and smacked his arm a few times.

"You, absolute, bastard!" She laughed between hits. Jack hopped away at each strike, even though it didn't hurt. He was grinning; it was a pleasant change. Kiki stopped with a chuckle and shook her head. "You should smile more." She beamed, as if to prove her point. "You look sad when you don't. It makes your face light up."

Kiki realised she was whispering, and she and Jack were standing quite close to each other. They regarded one another for a moment. She watched him, not even looking but rather _watching_, observing one of his pupils dilate outwards, pushing away the already dark iris. She blinked and stepped back.

"Yes, well, anyway." Kiki smiled quickly and patted Jack's cheek. "Smile more. Eat your veggies. And remember, fire spreads." She jerked her head and stepped around him into the next room. He followed her, after a short pause.

The next area was very large but compact, with rough, carved stone walls and flickering technology. It had two floors. Flickering neon signs directed them to the different sections of the place.

"This is…new." Kiki looked around. She hopped over the balcony and onto the stairs. "Let's head this way. Smells like clues."

They ended up winding their way through the orange corridors, doubling back several times and fighting off a few Splicers. Kiki got partially lost, and there was some conflict of interest regarding where to go. She felt like they were in a Charlie Chaplin movie, going in and out of doors and trying to follow Ryan, but he was always one step ahead, one door further down the hall.

"For god's sake, we've been down here already!" She exclaimed, spinning in a circle, arms out. "Read the signs!"

"I am!" Jack argued, looking up a staircase. "This is new, there's three floors."

"Ugh!" Kiki huffed, not liking being proved wrong. She stomped over to the door leading out and looked down the hall. At the far end was another door. The room was scattered with corpses and oil, and every few feet there was a large pair of gears jutting from the floor. "Fine, then. Fine. Let's go down here."

She took a few steps in the hall, Jack following, and was about to turn around when the lights went out.


	9. Vodka, Electric Burns and Tits

_-I want to do so many musical montages! _

_-I got lost in Hephaestus a lot._

_Quote:__ "__I felt like an animal, and animals don't know sin, do they?"__ -__Jess C. Scott, "Wicked Lovely"_

_Listen to:__ "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want", The Smiths (So please, please, please, [let me] get what I want this time. Lord knows it would be the first time…)_

_-o-_

_14 February, 1959_

_Kiki pushed Susanne down the corridor in her wheelchair, which the latter had decorated with pink hearts and red tinsle. Kiki was looking around in paranoid fear, getting edgier ever since the start of the year. She felt a sort of hyper-protectiveness toward her newly crippled friend, and now their roles were reversed: she wanted to spend nearly every daylight hour with her, and Susanne wanted to be more independent._

"_I hear there's a sale going on," Susanne chattered on. "Incinerate plasmid, you know, poetic sort of thing for Valentine's." She waved her arms in a rainbow arc and put on a dramatic voice. "'Set fire to your relationship, with Incinerate!' How delightfully campy, darling!"_

"_Are you sure you don't want to go back to your flat?" Kiki asked, jumping at what she thought was a scream but was really a loud laugh. "I can make a pie, it won't be nearly so _dangerous, _the riots are getting much worse. It's an arms race for plasmids and ADAM."_

"_Don't worry so much, darling. We'll be absolutely _fine_. Speaking of which, did you hear the dreadful news?"_

_Kiki sighed. "Yeah, I heard. That Little Sister was killed for the ADAM. Some people…" _

"_I just couldn't believe it, darling! You know something; I think Atlas is really going to turn this place around. Really! All that talk about the working man…I'm not among the wealthy anymore, darling! They don't like me now I can't walk, you know. Atlas doesn't care about this! He just wants Ryan and all his old, boring followers to stop oppressing everyone else! And a family man, just such a charmer!"_

"_I don't if it's so simple as that, love…" Kiki muttered. _

"_And what do you mean by that?" Susanne waved a hand and scoffed. "It's always so complicated with you, dear. Always an ulterior motive."_

"_Well…these days, everyone has an ulterior motive." The redhead sighed again. "I don't…I can't _trust anything _these days. Not these days." _

_-o-_

Kiki froze in her tracks. It was so dark. There were no words for the sort of darkness that she was experiencing. It was more than simple darkness, in fact: it was utter and complete, abysmal dark. There was no light, at all. She could feel her hand a hair's breadth in front of her face, and still couldn't see it. Her breath felt very short, like it didn't extend for more than a few inches. Eyes squeezed shut or wide open, there was no change. Wavering splotches of colour floated around her eyes, like when she rubs her eyes too hard.

"Jack?" She whispered, gingerly probing outward with her hands. "Are you there?"

"Your right." He answered. Kiki turned and stepped face first into his chest. He wrapped an arm over her shoulders to make sure she didn't wander back off.

"Ah! Oh, good, it's you." She clutched his arm with bone-breaking tightness. Jack squirmed a little.

"Hey, ow." He paused, and when he spoke again, his voice was a little amused. "Are you afraid of the dark?"

"No! Come on, Jumper Jack, I'm a grown woman. Fear of the dark is for children."

A man laughed in broken, crazed tones out in the hall somewhere, and Kiki started with a little gasp. She aimed her crossbow out at the hall with one arm, keeping the other tightly holding onto Jack. Footsteps clacked toward them, two pairs; one heavy and thumping, the other light and clipped like high heels. As soon as the footsteps got so close the breathing of the subjects could be heard, the lights came back on with a snap.

Two Splicers lunged at them, male and female. Kiki shot the man, dressed in fisherman garb, and she and Jack stepped away from each other to let the female fall flat on her face where they had been standing. Jack coolly shot her while down. He looked up at Kiki, and they chuckled a little.

The lights went out a few seconds later, plunging them back into total blackness. Kiki yelped and flung herself at Jack like he was magnitised. He stumbled a little, his balance thrown. "I would say there's nothing to be afraid of," He told her, moving her hand down his so that his arm would stay intact. "But that's not really true."

"I told you, I'm not…I'm not afraid of the dark." Kiki walked along after Jack, holding his hand and stepping carefully.

When they were about halfway through the room, the lights came back on. Kiki memorised as much of the room as she could. She stepped over to a Splicer corpse and poked him with her crossbow. "Have to wonder what happened to th—ah!"

The Splicer was not dead at all, but rather faking. He jumped up and shot at Kiki, who ducked and shot him in the knee. He screamed, and several other "dead" Splicers stood up around the room.

"Oh, shit." Kiki lifted up the bow and cracked it against the Splicer's head. "This is just fantastic. They're getting smarter!"

"And tougher!" Jack added, finally killing one of the bastards only after emptying his clip.

"Don't worry, I have a crossbow." Kiki shot the two last Splicers in quick succession and let out a breath once she realised there were no more. "Crossbows solve everything."

The lights flickered but didn't go out. Even so, Kiki made a choked gasping noise and started toward Jack. When it was clear the lights were staying on, she looked over to Jack. He was smirking. "Shut up." Kiki grumbled and kept on to the end of the hall.

The next room promised to only continue the labyrinth of metal corridors and factory machines. It took two hours—closer to three—of wandering around, getting lost, doubling back, fighting Splicers, listening to an audio diary, realising where they needed to go, getting lost again, wandering around some more, arguing about where to go, getting lost yet _again, _one-sided teasing on Kiki's part, going back where they had come, and finally leaving a trail of pistol bullets to find the correct crawlspace. It was a little door halfway behind some debris, which was why they couldn't find it. There was a short trail of smeared blood leading to it and handprints of it across the door.

"Well, that's cheering." Kiki crouched and opened the door, crawling inside and standing once in the little room. It was a workshop of sorts, with one visible workbench. Kiki walked up to it and looked it over, grabbing a first aid kit.

"Wow." Jack said. Kiki turned to see, and whistled.

"Wow is right." There was actually a second workbench, on top of which sat what looked like a very large bomb. "What the bloody hell is that thing?"

Jack rifled through some papers on the desk, looking them over. "Our key to Ryan." He held one up to Kiki, and she looked it over.

"Oh I see! This overrides that delightful little generator thing on the door. Very interesting." She stepped closer and set the paper aside. An audio diary was sitting on the desk. She picked it up and pressed play.

A man's voice, American, came from the player; probably the creator of the bomb. "The basic casing is ready; I've got one charge of nitroglycerin in my office, that will serve as a catalyst. Now I need four R-34 lead shield wire stubs to pass the circuit. Then a half-can of ionic gel—that's the pretty Betty of the mix. Should send the core into compensation mode, push power down the line and trigger the circuit breaker on Ryan's gate. That's the theory. It'll either work like a charm, or blow up half of Rapture. Nothing ventured..."

"If I heard that right, we need…four R-34 lead shield wire stubs? And a half can of ionic gel." Kiki looked down and picked up a flask of vodka. "I'm going to need this."

Jack plucked it away. "No. You don't. And I don't need you getting drunk."

Kiki scoffed. "Oh, Jumper, so concerned for my health. Don't worry, I handle my liquor very well!"

After a few seconds of judging her honesty, Jack handed the drink back. "Don't make me regret this."

A half an hour later, Kiki was pacing excitedly back and forth between workbenches, picking up paper and putting them down, chattering away. The flask of vodka was in her hand, and occasionally she would put it to her mouth like it had something in it, remember that it was empty, and do the same thing two minutes later. Jack was leaning against the wall, arms and legs crossed, watching her to make sure she didn't do anything stupid.

"I mean, this guy creates this obvious _bomb, _right, and right under Ryan's nose. Right there! Here, in Heph!" Kiki picked up some papers and tossed them back down. "The guy has some balls, I'll give him that, but Christ, he's an idiot! I wonder if he's hanging on that wall back there? Oh, probably. Right next to poor Susy…my best mate, she was, Jack. My _best friend. _And now she's dead, just like I thought she would be. All that bloody talk about revolution and Atlas, I just knew she would end up dead or worse."

Kiki stopped and put a hand on Jack's chest, patting his sternum. "You're my friend now, right? My best mate?" Again, the girl from the hall of the dead was back. The witty, smirking exterior was temporarily shattered to reveal a woman who was very, very scared. Her eyes begged to be reassured, to be told that she wasn't alone on an island surrounded by sharks.

Jack paused, and nodded. "Yeah."

"Oh, good." Kiki sighed with relief, and that confident person was back. She moved her hand to his cheek, rough with stubble. She watched him, and let out a drunken giggle. "I've got a boy friend."

Jack lifted her hand from his face and put it at her side. "You're making me regret this. You should sleep it off."

"Is that an invitation, Mr Wynand?" Kiki laughed stupidly and slung her arms around his neck. She was decidedly very _bad _at holding her liquor.

"No, that's common sense." Jack pulled her arms away, and held them at her sides. He gritted his teeth and glanced away. "Don't temptme, Katherine."

"Why _not?"_ Kiki purred. She ran her free hand up his chest again, standing on her toes to be at least closer to his eye level. Her other hand still held the empty vodka glass. "I'm the _Sssnake _in the Garden, remember? Temptation is my _sssspecialty._"

The vodka flask shattered as it struck the ground, tumbling out of Kiki's hand and spraying glass across the tiny room. Her hands were instead resting on Jack's shoulders. The kiss was sudden and violent, like the flood bursting from the dam. His hands gripped her waist with an almost self-loathing tightness, his sober attitude washing over her drunken one. They broke apart for a brief moment and clashed together again. Kiki mumbled a little moan against Jack's mouth, her hands clutching his jumper.

Jack turned and pressed her against the wall where he had been leaning, his hands shifting up slightly so his thumbs were pressed to her hips. Kiki moaned again, louder and with much more conviction. Her fingers teased at the hem of his jumper, tugging lightly up.

Jack quite suddenly pushed her away, holding her at arm's length. "Stop."

"I don't wanna." Kiki slurred and kissed him again. Jack returned it for a moment, but pushed her away again.

"I don't want to take advantage of you." He argued, trying to get the point through her vodka-clouded skull. "That's what it would be."

"You're no fun." Kiki pouted, plucking at the collar of his jumper. She smiled coyly, yawned, and just like that was out like a light.

-o-

Kiki groaned and squeezed her eyes shut tight, curling up in a ball. Her head was throbbing like a hammer was banging away inside. A light wave of nausea touched her, but nothing major. Holding her temples, she straightened up. She was sitting in the little side room, against a wall. Across from her, Jack was sitting and silently cleaning his machine gun in just his wifebeater. Kiki flushed and looked away, seeing that his jumper was folded like a pillow where her head had been.

"…How much did I drink?" She asked after a pause.

Jack jerked his thumb at a very small pile of broken glass.

"Is that just the vodka?" Jack nodded, and Kiki sighed heavily and let her head fall against the wall. "Please tell me I didn't do anything mortifying. I can't remember a thing."

"Let's just say," Jack looked down the detached barrel of the gun for lingering grime. "I am _never _letting you drink again."

"Oh, god." Kiki bit her lip. "Did we shag?" Jack gave her a look. "I mean, not that I wouldn't like to—but, not that I _do _want to…" She sighed. "Did we?"

"No." Jack very subtly rolled his eyes, snapping the gun back together. "But almost."

"Oh, for god's sake…" Kiki slapped a hand over her eyes and shook her head. "Drunk Me is absolutely terrible." She tossed him the jumper and stood, leaning against the workbench. "I do not need a hangover in the middle of the apocalypse."

Making sure she had all her guns and Jack was properly dressed, she headed out of the crawlspace and back into the secondary "main" room. "Now, I'll go over…_that _way to look for a half can of ionic gel, whatever that is. You can check out over there for lead wire stubs or…whatever. Meet back in the room back there when we've found the stuff. Oh, and take the radio. I have enough problems with my bloody fucking head without that arsehole jabbering in my ear." She flicked the radio back on, and Atlas was back in just a few seconds.

"Finally!" He snapped, clearly irritated. Kiki made a "talking" motion with her hand, sticking out her tongue and crossing her eyes as Atlas went off. "I've been trying to reach you pair for the last day, where'd you run off to? Ryan could be building up his defenses as we speak, we can't afford to…"

"I'll let you take care of mother." Kiki gave Jack a thumbs-up and headed off down the corridor.

She wound her way through the maze of hissing, burning tunnels. Stepping around a corner, she quickly stepped back again just as a spray of bullets shattered the stone. There was a door there, locked and looking promising, but two turrets were guarding it.

Switching her plasmid, Kiki dodged around the corner and shocked both of the things. Running up to each, she reached into the complicated wiring and pulled and ripped at the technology until they were just hunks of metal.

Next was the door. There was a number lock that needed a combination, but with some clever manipulation of Electro Bolt, two years of practise and listening very, very carefully, she could hack it open—and did.

The sight that greeted her was something of a surprise. The entire room, which was not exactly small, was covered with electrified trap bolts. The glowing blue wires spider-webbed the entire room, sparking lightly. To make things worse, the room was partially flooded with water, about knee deep at the deepest. And the cherry on top—a can of something labelled "Ionic Gel" was floating in the water on the other side of the room.

Kiki squeezed her temples. "Shit, shit, shit…I do _not _need this."

Carefully, very carefully, Kiki stepped over the first wire. The floor under the water was slippery with slime. She kept her footing as steady as possible, turning a few degrees and crouching to ease through two parallel wires. The going was slow and steady, but eventually Kiki made it all the way to the gel can without getting seriously maimed. She leaned over and picked it up, brushing some snails off the label.

"Hello, beautiful." She whispered to the canister.

Kiki turned around and started back through the wires, holding the can tight. "Need help?"

Jack's voice made her look up and breathe deeply out. "Don't do that, you almost made me slip."

"You would deserve it." Jack stepped to the edge of the water and made a beckoning gesture. Kiki tossed the canister to him.

The energy used to throw, however, caused her to lean back. Her weight shifted on the one foot she had down, moving to her heel, which in turn slipped up completely. For a brief moment, time was suspended. Kiki's mouth formed a little "o" of surprise as she fell back into the net of wires. Jack's eyebrows were suspended mid-raise, still catching the canister of gel, possibly wondering if he had jinxed it.

Time resumed. Kiki toppled into a cluster of three or four trap wires, which lashed around her and shocked her in one go. She writhed and screamed, tearing at the now useless wires. Iron spikes, two per, stabbed into her skin. The pain of it was indescribable. It felt like someone was repeatedly stabbing her with burning hot knives. The water was now electric as well, and instead of cooling, the burning wounds excited the injured flesh with itching, searing, liquid electricity. White-hot agony was coursing through her veins instead of blood. Her throat hurt as well, but she was sure that was from screaming. After what felt like hours, days, weeks of horrible pain, her body decided enough was enough, and she blacked out.

-o-

Colours bubbled and burst at the edge of Kiki's consciousness. Voices mumbled in the background of her mind, conversing about the blurriness of everything. Kiki wanted to move, to tell them to shut up. It was annoying. She wanted to sleep. She tried to get up or open her eyes, but could not. There was, however, a pause in the conversation.

Another mumble. One in return. And then a prick, a tiny stab of pain in the formless shape of whatever Kiki was. She attempted to squirm away and again, couldn't. She made a last attempt at swatting away the pinprick of pain, and it vanished.

Once again nothing but thought, Kiki drifted away into sleep.

-o-

Kiki groaned and squeezed her eyes shut tight, curling up in a ball and getting a distinct sense of déjà vu. She opened her eyes and looked around. She was in the side room; Jack was sitting against the opposite wall in his wifebeater, tapping out a hypo of EVE that he prepared to inject into himself. Sniffing experimentally, she concluded she was lying on his jumper. After a few more seconds of taking in her surroundings, Kiki straightened up. She hardly even sat up before ropes of pain tightened around her body, and she held back a cry.

Jack looked up, seeing she was awake. He set aside the empty hypo and scooted over to her. "You okay?"

"Do I _look _okay?" Kiki growled, looking down at herself. Her body was wrapped in bandages, where lines of blood stained the slightly dirty cloth. Touching her hair, she found it to be greasier than usual. "What the hell happened?"

"You became a bigger problem is what happened." The voice in the background defined itself as Atlas. "Almost got yourself killed getting that ionic gel. Might've been better anyway! The boy wouldn't be held up patching you up."

"Thanks for the concern, mate." Kiki gave her best snarl.

"Okay, okay, calm down, Mad Kat." Atlas said lightly. "Glad you're safe, lass."

"No thanks to you." Kiki really didn't care at this point; she was just saying things that would cause him offense. She grunted and gingerly touched one of the bleeding splotches in the bandaging. "Couldn't you heal this with ADAM?"

"I tried." Using a little knife, Jack sawed open a can of beans. "It isn't working well. You may be building immunity. I couldn't waste any more, we're running low."

"Damn." Kiki accepted the beans and began to shovel them down. The can was snatched away almost immediately. "Oi! Don't deprive a girl of her food!"

"Take it easy." Jack gave her back the food, and Kiki continued eating, slower.

"So, how long have I been out?"

"Three days."

Kiki almost choked. "_Three days?_ You're kidding. You have to be kidding, right? Right?" Jack shook his head. Kiki let out a disappointed huff, her hands dropping into her lap. "Three days…Christ…"

"'Fraid it was the ADAM that kept you down." Atlas added, the radio stuttering. "We thought it would help you out and get you going, but the more we gave you, the more you slept. This morning we stopped, and lo and behold! Back with the land of the living."

"So, I'm immune to ADAM." Kiki thoughtfully chewed on the beans. "I could just get a bigger dose, but that's how Splicers start. You know, more and more just to feel normal. Hmm…I guess no more diving headfirst into danger, guns blazing. Damn, that's fun, though…"

Kiki paused and looked down at herself, a veritable mummy. "So, you've pretty much seen me naked now, right?"

Atlas laughed heartily from the radio. "You should've heard him. Think he'd never seen tits before, the way he was muttering about indecency and such."

Jack blushed, but Kiki only shrugged. "I don't see what men find in breasts," She said, scraping the bottom of the can. "They just kind of…exist. Not really useful unless I've got kids, and they get in the way while I run. But men..." She made a noise like a laugh. "Come on. They're just tits!"

There was silence for a few seconds from both Jack and Atlas. The former glanced at the radio, but seemed to remember Atlas was just a voice, and went back to giving Kiki a perplexed look. This went on for a bit more, before the Irishman decided to break the silence. "_Just tits?" _

Kiki laughed, which hurt and led to her wincing. "Yes!"

"There's no such thing!"

"Oh, what. Jumper, you have to admit that sometimes tits are just tits."

Jack hesitated, seeming torn between getting smacked by Kiki or getting called something emasculating by Atlas. His decision finally was: "Well…" And he ended up getting playfully hit anyway, even though it stretched a burn on Kiki's arm.


	10. Restlessness

_-I'm sorry this took so long to get out, writer's block everywhere! D: _

_W'P_

_Quote:_

_Listen to:__ "We Are Young", Fun. (My seat's been taken by some sunglasses, ask him 'bout a scar and I know I gave it to you months ago; I know you're trying to forget, but between the drinks and subtle things, the holes in my apologies, I know it's hard to take it back…)_

-o-

_1 March, 1959_

"_Susanne, this is a bad idea." Kiki wrung her hands anxiously, walking alongside her friend. Susanne was rolling determinedly down to a sort of rally that was happening, yet another one of Atlas' revolutionary groups. _

"_No, Katy, this is a very _good _idea." She shot back, turning a corner. "Ryan needs to go down. Atlas is this city's future." _

"_What are you talking about?" Kiki asked breathlessly, stopping. Susanne stopped as well and turned to face her. "Since when were you this…this?" She gestured at the blonde. "I never thought I'd say it, but…I want the old Susanne back. Just—what the hell are you thinking, going down there anyway? You could be killed!" She sighed. "What I'm trying to say is, Atlas isn't going to change anything."_

"_I became _this _when I realised that the wealthy are just a bunch of entitled shits!" Susanne cried. "I'm not part of that anymore! And, oh, I'll get killed? What a fucking tragedy! Have you seen me lately? I half hope I _do _die!"_

_Kiki, too shocked at the outburst to say anything, watched with her mouth agape as Susanne turned and started back down the hall. _

_It took several minutes for Kiki to get a grip. After several deep breaths and running her hands through her hair, she blinked and remembered where she was. "What am I doing?" She whispered, holding her head and turning in a few quick circles. "What am I doing?" She looked up the hall, bounced on her heels, and started running. "What am I doing? Susy! Susy, come back!"_

_Susanne was still fairly close, though they were now in the hall with the rally. Someone was up on a makeshift stage, a few barrels and crates stacked up. He was yelling things that Kiki couldn't make out to the gathered protestors, who roared back in agreement. She wondered if it was Atlas himself; probably not. Atlas had many very devout followers who would do all the dirty work without ever being asked. _

_A man shoved past Kiki, tossing something at her. "Down with Ryan!" He yelled. A tyre iron. Before she could say anything, he was running past Susanne as well. "Down with Ryan!" _

_Susanne caught the butcher's cleaver and raised it high. "Down with Ryan!" She yelled back, like it was a greeting._

"_Susy, come on, we're going home." Kiki tapped her shoulder and gave the wheelchair a little tug. "This is madness."_

"_Let go! Katy, let go! _Stop!_" Susanne turned and metal glinted, a quick glance of shiny steel. Pain burned into Kiki's arm, and she stumbled away with a cry. Blood seeped down her upper arm, oozing between her fingers. Susanne gave her a look, almost apologetic, but her eyes hardened and she rolled silently towards the rally, the bloodied knife in her lap. _

_-o-_

Kiki ran her finger thoughtfully over a scar on her arm, a little white line a few inches long but fairly deep. It didn't hurt anymore. Not physically, at least. She closed her eyes a moment and let her head fall back. "Do you have any scars, Jack?" She asked and looked up.

Jack, opening a box of sugared cereal, shook his head. "Nothing big."

"I love scars." Kiki mused. "Well, I love them when they're healed. They help keep me going. Like this one," She tapped her arm. "First one I got, right before the war got really bad. A parting gift from my friend."

"The woman in that hall?"

"How did you…oh, I must have been drunk. Yes, Susanne was always a passionate person. Once she got wind of Atlas' revolution, there was no stopping her." Kiki accepted the box of cereal and started eating the dry stuff. "I like your tattoos, by the way." She said, indicating the chains on both his wrists. "When'd you get those?"

"A long time ago." Jack opened a box of his own and began eating. "Or, it feels like a long time."

"Fair enough."

There was a comfortable pause while they ate. It had been a week since Kiki had taken a tumble into the electric traps, and though she was healing quickly, it wasn't nearly fast enough for her tastes. She had calmed down, however; in the first day or two of being awake, she had tried to simply get up and continue on. It had taken Jack to bodily sit her down in order for her to stay still. Now she had settled, though reluctantly. Since it had been a whole week, however, she was getting even antsier then before. Atlas wasn't really much better. He was none too happy about having to wait a few extra days to kill Ryan. Jack was less than happy, as well—in fact, no one involved was pleased about the situation.

"I hate this." Kiki suddenly voiced their thoughts in three words. "I hate being a bloody invalid." Putting a hand on the wall behind her, she shoved herself up to two feet. Jack stood as well, hands out as if to catch her, but through sheer willpower alone Kiki was able to stand steady.

"Okay," She put her hands out like a balancing tightrope walker. "Okay. This isn't that bad." She touched her bandaged torso, the spots of dried blood. "Much better."

"These need changing." Jack nodded to the bandaging.

Kiki gave him a look. "Do they _really_?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, the old bandages shouldn't be on the healing wounds too long."

The ginger sighed with exaggerated reluctance. "Fine." She raised her arms obediently, standing still like a manikin. Jack paused, and then began unwinding the strips of cloth. Kiki ground her teeth together as the bandaging peeled away from the burnt skin.

The new wounds wrapped in thin, deep lines around her torso, down her arse and then stopped just before her ankles. There weren't many on her arms, but one line reached all the way up to her neck. Here and there, four puncture marks marked where the bolts' ends had latched into her. A little blood welled at some deeper cuts, but it had been healing well for the most part. Jack looked away as much as possible while he fetched new bandaging; Kiki would cover herself, but it hurt a bit more without any binding. She flinched a little as Jack applied the new bandages on her legs, her muscles contracting in pain.

"Sorry." He muttered, standing to reapply her torso. He worked up and tied it off next to her arm, a little above her left breast.

"Thanks." Kiki breathed, holding back a hiss of pain. She looked up at Jack, who had left his fingers linger on the knot. He traced his fingers across her shoulder, eyes absent. He brushed the slightly jagged scar that she had pointed out earlier. "Jack…" She murmured, observing the chains on his wrist and reached up to wrap her fingers around that wrist. Jack stopped and seemed to realise what he was doing. He leaned down a little so they were closer but jerked back right after. Kiki let out a little breath of surprise, smirked and moved forward, a dare. He moved away in return, with just enough hesitation that his breath brushed her face.

"Okay, mister," She finally grinned and rolled her eyes. "Either you kiss me or you don't."

"Well, when you put it like that…" Jack leaned forward again, but stopped at the spluttering of the radio.

"Would you kindly stop flirting and get a move on?" Atlas asked. "The lass is good enough to walk now, hop on to Ryan. Let's finish this."

Jack nodded and moved away from Kiki. He frowned a little as he handed her shirt to her. "That was odd."

"What was? The unabashed flirting?" Kiki pulled on her shirt, groaning at the stretching. "Because that's usually my thing, it is a little odd to see you participating in my sport."

"No, I…" He searched for the right words. "I wouldn't have pulled away, but it felt like I…had to. Like I was being forced to."

"Hmm…" Kiki thought that through, rubbing her chin. "The plot thickens." She perked up suddenly. "Well, I'll think on that some more. For now, though, I'm looking forward to killing things." Limping determinedly to the crawlspace, she crouched through and stepped, wincing, into the secondary main area. "Oh, wait, Jack; you got the bomb thing?"

"Here," Jack grunted, and began shoving the bomb through the crawlspace. Kiki grabbed and started pulling, heaving the thing through despite a sudden stinging pain in her side. After much sweat, pain and much, much swearing, they got the bomb to the other side.

"Good god," She gasped, holding her side. Jack emerged through a second later and held her up, but she waved him away. "No, no, I'm fine. Furnace Boy, you aren't making me any less hot with that mad jumper and body temperature like the core of the Sun."

"You're bleeding again." Jack observed, gesturing to her side, where blood stained the bandaging. "I just replaced those…"

"I know," Kiki grinned in pain. "You were going to kiss me. Go ahead and resume that whenever you like."

"Oi!" Atlas quickly hopped in. "At least kill Ryan before you try getting a leg over, boy!"

"Oh, for god's sake…" Kiki muttered. "I can turn off the radio whenever I want, I hope you know."

"I _do _know! But killing Ryan is in all of our interests, girl, so let's keep on and you two can go and screw like rabbits up on the surface once everything down here is solved, and everyone lives happily ever after."

"Fine." She huffed back, taking one side of the bomb and carrying it with Jack, who was looking more and more okay with the situation as the conversation went on. "But this gives me permission to snog him when ever, I, feel like it, drunk or not."

Atlas made a noise, like he'd turned away from the microphone to sigh. "Okay, fine, fine. Whatever keeps you going."

"Good." Kiki nodded once in agreement. "Now, let's get this thing to that thing."

Jack did most of the dragging and hefting of the bomb, while Kiki kept guard. She was overjoyed to be up and about again, and just as trigger-happy as ever. When there weren't any Splicers, she did what she could to help out, but in all they had their jobs. The stairs in the main lobby area gave them some trouble, as the Splicers were coming fast and furious and Jack was getting tired.

"I can't keep this up." Kiki gasped, sweating bullets and bleeding again. She reloaded as quickly as she could, stumbling back on the stairs and shooting at the Splicer below her.

"You're telling me." Jack grunted and hefted the bomb up another step.

Kiki switched to using plasmids, and began shooting small storms of lightning at the oncoming enemies. The Splicers' numbers began to dwindle, and she changed to Winter Storm to freeze the rest of them to statues of ice. She collapsed on the steps, laughing in a sort of fake sobbing manner. "Oh, god…this was a bad idea. All of it. Coming to Rapture, following you, trying to kill Ryan…"

She laughed, already exhausted after just crawling up the steps. "What the fuck are we doing, Jack?"

Jack hefted the bomb onto the landing. He wiped sweat off his forehead with the sleeve of his jumper and lay back, breathing heavily. "Planning a murder." He sighed, voice dry from exercise.

"Well…yeah." Kiki chuckled and lay next to him the same way, pressing a hand to her bleeding wounds. Her chuckling turned into laughing, and the laughing turned into cackling. Jack cracked a grin, and even let out a chortle of his own. They sat there giggling like idiots for a few minutes, getting it out of their systems.

"Okay," Kiki wiped her eyes, still grinning. "Okay, let's keep going. I'll help you this time." She patted Jack's shoulder and sat up. "Come on, let's pop off."

"Don't strain yourself." He stood up and grabbed the bomb. Kiki held the other side and they picked it up. It was easier going on flat ground, and they could walk faster with both of them working. Together, they carried the bomb up and back into the hall of the dead. Kiki stopped here, as the pain had grown and Jack had recovered enough to drag it the rest of the way.

Looking up to the pillar, Kiki held her sides and stared at the broken body of Susanne. The scraping of metal on metal stopped, and an almost uncomfortably warm arm squeezed around her shoulders.

"Give me a lift, will you?" Kiki whispered. Jack knelt and locked his fingers into a foothold. Kiki stepped back, holding herself against the wall and he lifted her up to Susanne's level. She couldn't look at the body, but she was able to reach up and wrench the bolts from her hands that nailed her to the wall.

Susanne's body crumpled down, and Jack let Kiki down. She knelt beside her deceased friend. She straightened her limp legs, folded her arms on her decaying bosom, and fixed her lackluster blond hair.

"Don't worry, Susy." She smiled sadly at the corpse. "Ryan'll get his for this. I swear."


End file.
